Vindictus
by narutotrigger
Summary: Minato looked at his bloodied wife Kushina dead in the eyes, "Why did you betray me?" She knelt down to him and whispered, "You're not the man I thought you were." He lay there, bleeding to death. Challenge fic. Au. Read for more details. Permanent Hiatus.
1. Chapter 1

Vindictus

Challenge Fic: From Kyubi16 by Samurai86

In and alternate dimension, Naruto Uzumaki was a different man. When he was born his mother furiously disagreed with her husband to seal the nine-tailed fox within their child and went so far as to threaten to divorce and leave him. Minato, with a heavy heart, snatched the child from her arms and went to confront the demon already close to his precious village. However on the way Uzumaki clan retainers who went to Konoha to be godfathers/godmothers of the child intercepted him and took back the child, sealing the fate of Konoha.

Kushina herself escaped with assistance from other clan members and spent a month recovering once they arrived in the Kingdom of Whirlpool where she was the princess. Her father the king was enraged that his son-in-law would sacrifice his grandson and cut off all ties with Konoha, though it was pointless because with nothing to perform the sealing with Minato was killed by the enraged bijuu and Konoha was reduced to ash. After that the beast mysteriously disappeared and had not been seen since.

Naruto had grown up within the protective and caring arms of his mother who fiercely protected him from any harm, he was however trained by the best of whirlpool shinobi and samurai and even some nuke-nin that turned friendly like Momochi Zabuza. Throughout the years he had matured and grown into a powerful A-class shinobi and, acting on the wishes of his mother who was now queen, led an invasion force into mist country to support the rebelling bloodline clans. Already worn down by the long civil war the Mizukage was defeated but the shinobi of Kiri had shown their utter ferocity and skill, often inflicting heavy casualties in engagements. Even though the country was finally re-united and sworn to be permanent allies with Whirlpool Kushina wanted more, and Naruto was more than happy to grant his mothers wishes.

"Conquer me another country son and I will kiss you on the cheek" She would say to motivate him, though really all she needed to do was tell him. He was as loyal as a dog.

He would smile, kiss his mothers hand and say, "For you mother, I will conquer an empire"

**The challenge**

The challenge is to forge the first Empire of the shinobi nations!

Naruto is blindly loyal to his mother, going even past obsession. She is his goddess and any wish she makes, no matter how small or big he will put all his heart and will to. This will play an important part, you can either make Kushina evil and manipulative and power hungry or kind and caring and the reason she wants to conquer are to bring peace within the shinobi nations.

There are Konoha survivors who utterly hate Kushina for condemning their village and home, use them as you wish. Payed assassins or major commanders of forces that fight against Whirlpool, it's up to you.

Naruto can be cool and collected or fiery and loud; as long as he is obsessively loyal to his mother it does not matter.

For the pairings I really don't want yaoi, though I'm not going to stop you from making it im not reading it. Harem or even incest is acceptable.

OC's are a must since you need to involve Naruto's teachers and friends as well as enemies.

The Akatsuki, bijuu and the Jinchuriki will have to play some part, what that is il leave up to you.

Ratings would be T-M. Gore and lemons are acceptable but not necessary, but id love you if you did...

(A/N: From now on, I'll only be posting the challenge part. Read at Kyubi16's page or on the first chapter for more info on the challenge)

Also, slight amendment to the challenge. Instead of the Kingdom of Whirlpool, I think a matriarch might make for more… interesting ideas. Evil chuckle…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other crossovers I may put into this work of fiction. Another author made the challenge, and I am merely answering the call.

PS. In this fic and most other fics with foreign languages, I won't be using the foreign name, unless its' for something important (Goddess, God, important artifact, etc). Instead, I'll just use the English version. If anyone wishes to translate the technique for me, I'll happily credit the person and give him or her a big piece of candy from my candy factory (We're out of liquorice).

Read and Review

Prologue – Revenge is a bitch!

It was a fine night in Konohakagure no Sato, the Hidden Village of the Leaves (Konoha for short). The air was crisp and the trees were blowing from the slight breeze. Everything was perfect, except for the fact that the Kyuubi no Kitsune was attacking the village.

Yes, the Kyuubi, a giant red fox with nine tails. They say the demon can break a mountain and cause natural disasters with one swipe of one of the tails. Such exaggerations are bound to be explored, but no one in their right mind would wish to ascertain the truth.

No one knew why the Kyuubi decided to make a trip down to the village this night. Of course, given how rare an occurrence of a demon lord actually was, no one can get inside of its' head.

All that matters is the Kyuubi is right at the villages' doorstep, ready to destroy it. Fortunately for the civilians, the village was a shinobi village, warriors of different attributes and talents. Many shinobi in the village fought to protect their loved ones from the massive beast.

For each attack the shinobi forces unleashed, the monster would swipe one of its' massive tails, nullifying the attempts and injuring the forces. Some would be found dead from the fall, but few were able to return with their allies. The fox howled with glee as it continued to fight the insects.

Away from the massacre, a plan was being hatched to stop the ferocious beast. The leader of Konoha, the Yondaime (Fourth) Hokage, Namikaze Minato, was a seal master. He knew about the location of the Kyuubi earlier, but figured, as long as it didn't bother the village, there would be no need to bother it.

He had the month to develop a method to seal the Kyuubi, should it ever decide to attack. The unfortunate aspect is that such a plan was that it required a live baby. He theorized, the chakra coils of the baby had just started developing, and the introduction of such a large amount of foreign chakra wouldn't poison the baby, thus keeping it alive and healthy. Over time, the foxs' chakra and the babies chakra would meld into one, effectively destroying the fox, but still keeping the jailor safe.

There happened to be such a baby tonight. It happened to be his baby, the newly christened Namikaze Naruto. He had planned on using the baby to seal the Kyuubi, but one thing got in his way… his wife.

Earlier the same day…

Scouts placed around the supposed lair had noted strange behavior within. Just to be sure, one of them went in the cave to see if the beast was still sleeping. After quite a few minutes, the other scout got worried and sent a messenger hawk back to the village before wandering into the cave.

About midday, the Hokage was hard at work. "Damn paperwork. I swear, this must be the bane of Kages' everywhere." He went back to work, when the door opened revealing his wife, Uzumaki Kushina.

She had long and flowing fiery red hair. She wore a long black tank top that used to cover her stomach, but is now too big. Her gold eyes met the Yondaimes' blue eyes. "Hey there, stranger. I haven't seen you all day."

He walked up to her and gave her a big hug, "Sorry, it's been a busy day, paper work and all that. So, how are you feeling today, _kaa-san_?" He grinned as she smiled.

The mother bit was an inside joke between the two. Minato, witnessing the 'miracle' of birth for the first time, and being an orphan, had no real mother of his own.

"I feel fine, and Naruto-kun is also doing fine. You should take a break one day and see your son, Hokage-_sama._" She left as he went back to work.

A bit later, the messenger hawk had arrived, crashing into the office at breakneck speed. "What the deuce?" He went to check up on the bird, noticing the scroll. His eyes slowly widened as he read the letter. _"Damn it, why now?"_

He pocketed the letter and sent the bird to the aviary. Back at the desk, he was deep in thought, about all the consequences of his decision. "_If I were to seal the Kyuubi within Naruto, he would have a difficult life. He would be teased, mocked and abused in many different ways, but he would have Kushina there to help him."_ The realization dawned on him. "_Damn, if I were to go through with this plan, I would have to ask her permission." _He kicked the desk, hard, spraining his foot.

With Kushina and Naruto…

Kushina was watching Naruto sleep. "_Naruto-kun, you're like a little angel." _She smiled as she picked him up into her warm embrace. "_I promise, I'm not going to let anything happen to you." _She kissed his forehead, and started to gently rock him. She gently sang a foreign song to him, "_I hope you grow strong, my little warrior. Grow strong for me, please." _

Back with Minato…

He had his head down, deep in thought. "_If I didn't seal the Kyuubi, all of my precious people would be dead. Gramps, Kushina-chan, Naruto-kun, all up in flames." _He raised his arms in agony, _"_What cruel deed did I do to deserve this fate?"

After the shout, he continued to mope, thinking things through, trying to connect all the puzzle pieces together. He looked at his hat and his coat. "_The Hokage, is just a title, but the meaning is much more. I must sacrifice the good of the few, for the good of the many. My family may suffer, but its' my job as a protector." _Just then, a crow flew onto the windowsill. "This crow must belong to Kushina-chan." The crow perched onto his arm and squawked into his ear. The disorienting sound caused him to fall over, forcing the crow to fly away.

As he lay on the ground, images of the future battle were planted into his mind. The battle torn village, filled with burning villagers, wildlife, and destroyed buildings. The living ninja were few, and the dead piled up as the few living were still trying to stop the beast. The beast then howled into the moon, and summoned up a large flame to destroy everything else.

In another area, Minato saw himself opposite of Kushina. He had scars all over his face, as the woman he loved was completely fine, with a red jacket, a black decorated top, a red hat, and a rose tattoo on her face. "Kushina-chan, what are you doing? Why didn't you give Naruto to me? We could have stopped this insanity!"

She gave him a maniacal laugh. "You would sacrifice your own son for the good of the village? I thought you were more than that, Minato-_kun_? You preach about family, yet you would give up your own to save some strangers you barely know." She spat out the last part.

Her shining golden eyes met his calm blue eyes. _"She's right. I do talk about family and I don't have any of my own. Is it worth the trouble of sacrificing my own for people I do not know." _He slapped himself. "_Get that out of your mind! The villagers have treated you with kindness and showed you what a family is worth. They are practically your family, while Kushina is a girl you fell in love with a year ago from a foreign village. What's more important, the people you live with or a foreigner?"_

Minato straightened himself, "My previous action may not have been for the good of everyone, but these people are my family. They took me in, and raised me as if I was their own. I was born an orphan, and all these people feel like relatives in some way. Even if I haven't committed to memory all of their names, the feelings are still the same."

She was angered by his response, "If that's how you want it, don't complain when you die!" She pulled out a kunai and leapt at the man she once loved. He had also pulled out a kunai and started to attack her.

It was a battle for the ages. Kunai met kunai, as both ninja tried to strike at the vulnerable places. There would be a block for each hit. The fierceness of the battle whipped up winds, as both coated figures danced a dance of death. Eventually, the two sped up, creating deadly winds, causing small cuts in the ground and whatever was there at the time.

"Kushina, do you think you can match my speed?" She laughed at the question, "Match it? I can go much faster!" She grinned while speeding up. He grimaced at the speed, while trying to block each hit, taking out another kunai, while she only had one. "Damn Kushina, where have you been hiding this power?"

She grinned widely, showing her flashing golden eyes, "Mother said to never show my full potential in front of the foreign ones. Your council would have me mate with several other men to give the Spiral to future Konoha shinobi." She put her hand to her mouth, "Whoops, shouldn't have let that slip."

He raised his eyes, "You have a kekai genkai? Why didn't our bloodline test show it?" He felt sad that they didn't share all their secrets.

"Didn't I already tell you? I've seen how the council, including that snake bastard Danzo treat people with kekai genkai. He uses them to create children, and sends those children to be trained to get rid of their emotions, and use them as tools. I'm sure you're aware of the existence of the Foundation." She grabbed another kunai and did another barrage of attacks.

Minato tried to dodge and block the flurry, but had many new scars upon his body. She returned across the battlefield as he fell upon his knees, clutching at the bloodied scars. She had a look of despair on her face, "If you had a massive power behind you, and your captors gave you a chance for freedom if you gave them power, what would you do?"

His eyes opened widely, thinking of any answers he could find. "I would not give them my power. I would rather die!" She shook her head.

In an instant, she disappeared and held a large sword to his neck, "What have I told you about lying to me, Minato-sama? You cannot lie with this blade at your neck. Now, tell me the truth of your actions."

With the blade at his neck, he sang like a bird. The truth was he would give up his power to save the people he called his family. Satisfied with the answer, she withdrew the blade, but stayed behind him. She whispered, "Do you understand what I must do?"

He had a shaking suspicion that he would soon find out. She whistled loudly and pushed him. When he landed, he was face to face with the monster fox. "What? How did it get here so fast? Kushina, did you call it?"

She nodded and grinned, "At birth, girls in the Hidden Whirlpool Kingdom are sent along with our crow familiars to capture a ferocious beast. As the princess, I had higher expectations. Luckily, a boy close to my age had helped me locate the beast. He helped hypnotize it as I captured it with my crow." A rather large crow perched on her shoulder cried out,

Minato, terrified of the forces both in front and behind him, steeled his resolve and threw a kunai at the woman he loved. At that point, she could have easily dodged it, but she chose not to. In his horror, she fell and the crow flew away, and the blood spewed everywhere. It, however, turned out to be a trick of the light.

He yelled loudly, "You're not the woman I married. You are a monster!" He felt a pain in his legs as he noticed the Kyuubi start biting them. He shouted loudly as the blood transferred to his feet.

She simply said nothing as she turned to her animal form, a crow, as she flew away.

Out of his premonition, he woke up, sweating up a storm. "_Damn, what was that? Was it a dream, or a prediction of the future?"_ He looked around for the crow, but it was nowhere to be seen. "_Damn crow."_ He would proceed with the plan, regardless of consequences.

Later that night…

Minato had approached his wife, Uzumaki Kushina, with the plan to seal the fox into their son. "Please, we need to do this to save everyone."

She held their child closer to her body, "Minato-kun, you know how a jinchuuriki lives. I don't want him to have a horrible life!"

"Please, Kushina-chan, you must reconsider! The people in this village are like a family to me. I don't want to see them dead." His sad eyes met her fierce eyes.

"I told you, I'm not going to give him up! If you were to go, the council would install a puppet leader and use our son as a weapon! I've heard stories of this being done in the Mist and the Cloud. So for, Konoha is the only village that doesn't have an official jinchuuriki." She held the boy closer to her chest, for fear of her husband seizing him.

He looked to his feet before continuing, "I've got it. I'll talk to old man Sarutobi before sealing the beast. That way, he'll go back to being Hokage again."

She shook her head, "What can he do? Sure, he can stop the villagers for a little bit. The fact that I'm the Yondaime's wife might help, but it's human nature to fear what they don't understand. Face it, most of the people in this village will treat him like scum."

He looked at her vehemently, "What do you suggest I do? Leave everyone here to die?"

She had a scared look and set Naruto down, "I don't want you to leave everyone to die, but just think of another way. I'm just saying, you're the Hokage. If you can't find a solution, no one else can." She went to hug her husband, and he went to.

They embraced, as the man she loved stabbed her in the back. As she slowly fell, she silently asked him, "Why?"

He had a look of disdain on his face, "I have to act as a protector. The lives of the many outweigh the life of one." He kissed her forehead as he took away their child from her grip.

Lying on the floor, in a pool of her own blood, Kushina lifted her shirt to reveal the seal on her stomach. She pressed it gently, and as it started to flash, "_Damn you Minato. I hope you get yours." _She started to fade away into shadows, as the shadows slowly traveled out of the room, following the blond Hokage.

With Minato…

The blond leader was dashing towards the outer gates as fast as he could. "_I'm going to hell for this, but, by the time I see you there, Kushina, I hope you forgive me." _He increased in speed, using a shortcut through the forest.

As he neared the battlefield, he sensed foreign presences around him. "Damn it, Whirlpool ninja and samurai, along with him." A man landed from the tree he stood on earlier. He had spiked crimson hair, with a scowl on his face. He wore a long dark blue coat. The coattails flew in the wind as he spoke, "So Minato, why isn't my sister wrapped around you like usual?"

He looked to his side, "We had a little disagreement. She's back at Konoha, calming down. I decided to take a walk before speaking to her again." He held onto the baby more tightly, hoping his brother-in-law wouldn't suspect anything.

He shrugged, "I was just wondering if you knew what happened to her, since she pressed her seal to call for help. Luckily we were stopping by to congratulate the lovely couple." He spat out the end as if it were poison.

He grimaced, "Well, if you won't be needing anything else…" He was stopped, as her brother appeared in front of him, grinning widely.

His cold silver eyes met cool blue eyes, "You've got something important in there. Something important to little sis; something I intend to get back." He withdrew a long sword from his sheathe. "This isn't as good as the Fragarach sis has, but it's more than enough to beat you." He leapt to slash at the man.

Reacting just in time, he placed the baby down, and took out a kunai and blocked the slash. "Kaito, you're insane. You were almost going to harm Naruto."

He grinned, "You and I both know that Naruto would have been fine. You're my enemy and all of my attacks hit their mark." He whistled, and the kunoichi from Whirlpool landed to grab the honorable grandson. "Take him back to Whirlpool, and try to find Kushina while you're at it."

He looked around as the Whirlpool forces grabbed the baby from the ground and left in a defensive formation. He was about make his move, but Kaito quickly ran up to slash him again. He dodged, only to be met by a flurry.

Dodging the attacks, "Why are you doing this? I mean, I know you hate me, but why must you take your hatred out on the villagers?"

He smiled a toothy smile. "I'm not big on foreigners, especially one who deflowers my precious sister." He notices the Hokage reach his hand in his pocket, "I know all about your precious Hiraishin technique. I see that what I've heard is true. It doesn't work well in one on one situations or against people who know all about the technique."

"How much did she tell you?"

He grinned madly, "Oh, just about everything, including your techniques, namely the Rasengan technique, which sounds quite nice. Allow me to demonstrate." He withdrew his sword and held up his fist. He took out his hand and shaped a mass of energy into a sphere. The sphere grew wider as the wind around the sphere started to gather more closely.

Minato's eyes bulged out, "How did you add nature manipulation to the Rasengan? It's still in developmental stages!"

He chuckled, "A dead man doesn't need any answers. All you must know is… the north winds have decided your death is now." He charged at him, intending to kill him the same way he nearly killed his sister.

Struggling to move, Minato tossed a Hiraishin kunai in a random direction. He vanished somewhere, but it was too late, as Kaito was right behind him, jamming the shredding wind sphere through his back.

"_Damn, I was too weak. Now the Kyuubi will destroy the village." _He slowly fell into unconsciousness.

Later…

When Minato woke up, he felt himself tied to a wooden cross. He looked around to see he was on the Hokage Mountains, where he could see the battlefield where the Kyuubi was.

"It looks like the bastard finally woke up." He looked to see Kaito above him, with wings. "How are you doing, scum?"

"Why am I here? I thought you killed me?"

His eyes flashed, "My servants and I thought it would be better for the one you loved try to kill you?" He pointed to the face of the Fourth Hokage. Standing on the face was Kushina, dressed in the same garbs during his dream.

He was flabbergasted, "Kushina, why? I thought you loved me?"

She smiled, "I used to love you, but you changed, so I don't love you anymore. Oh, by the way, the Kyuubi disappeared long after you tried to kill me." She took out her long sword from Minatos' dream. She cut him with the sword, releasing large amounts of blood.

As he finally started to fall silent, he heard her whisper, "Don't worry Minato, I'll take care of Naruto for the both of us."

Kushina, Kaito, their vassals, one whom was holding Naruto, all left the battle-scarred village for the Whirlpool. She seemed to mouth something before she left, but Minato was too weak to understand. Up next was the cold loneliness of death.

End

Well, what did you all think? Please leave a review.

I've made very small changes and added a bit, but most of it is still the same. I hope you all like it.


	2. Chapter 2

Homecoming

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other crossovers I may put into this work of fiction.

Reviewer's Corner (From Ch. 1):

LoPe21: Thanks! I'm planning on finishing all my stories; I've just got a bit going on in my life.

If I need help, I'll know whom to call.

: Thanks

JAKdaRIPPER: If I didn't write this, I'd be inclined to agree with you, but…

At this point, Kushina is actively betraying Minato.

She is intelligent enough to be able to understand how the Rasengan works + Minato told her about it. She sent the formula to her brother.

He's a master of wind manipulation. That should get explained later. How well it is will vary amongst readers.

Parrot Post: 'Sighs' This is going to take a while.

It's a challenge fic, first of all. I simply accepted the challenge

I couldn't really answer the questions after a certain point. It seems like you're rambling. Sorry if I couldn't help answer them. Kyuubi16 is an odd individual.

Huh, shorter than I thought. PM me if you have any actual questions.

Please Read and Review

Start

Kushina, Kaito, and their entourage escaped from the Land of Fire at a leisurely pace. "_This land is ravaged, yet I feel it is still alive to allow them to regain their power." _The servants agreed with their master's thoughts and assisted their tired lady in a carriage.

As they had gone out of the tired land, Kushina took one last look at her beloved's home. "_The fallen Leaves may eventually come for my head. But who can blame them?"_ After calming down, she re-evaluated the decision left before her and decided it was for the best.

Within the Ruins of Konoha…

After roughly one hour of destruction caused by Kyuubi, the Nine-Tailed Fox, Konohakagure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Leaves, was on its last legs.

Luckily for the villagers, Uchiha Keisuke, the Barrier Master had been there. An intelligent strategist, Keisuke was there when the Yondaime had arrived. Sensing the losing battle, he concocted an anti-demon barrier, using the First Hokage's specially made gloves as an amplifier.

When the mighty demon had left the scarred battlefield, the Uchiha had lifted the barrier. He collapsed, weakened from the strain of maintaining the barrier. "Damn it Minato, where are you?"

As he and the other shinobi returned to Konoha relatively uninjured, they received the grave news that their current Hokage was missing. "How?"

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, took a long drag from his pipe. "How could such a kidnapping have happened? Minato is a seasoned warrior. He has senses unlike most." As he took another drag, he continued to think of any plausible reason. None came to mind as to a grown man could vanish.

As he walked around his office, he recounted the previous events. "Earlier this months, our scouts had spotted a cave made by Kyuubi no Yoko. Upon closer inspection, they reported that it was asleep and that as long as it stayed asleep, nothing should happen." He inhaled deeply from his pipe, "Earlier today, the scouts reported activity within the cave, and believed that the beast would come down from its mountain hideout and attack Konoha." As he continued, the door opened, revealing an average height bespectacled brown haired man. He wore the Uchiha insignia upon his dark robes. His hakama flowed in the wind from outside. "Uchiha Keisuke, what are you here for?"

He raised his glasses as he spoke. "I heard that Minato was missing and I'm volunteering that I look for him." As he bowed and started to leave, he was stopped. "Hokage-sama?"

He took another drag and said, "One moment. As one of the great minds of Fire Country, I need to pick your brain. Please." He invited him to sit down.

"Before you came in, I recalled past events in order to obtain some certain snippets of facts." He inhaled and exhaled from the pipe again, "We know for certain that Kyuubi has come, and that Minato is no where to be seen. What we don't know is why he is not here, what happened to him, and where he has vanished."

Keisuke nodded as he proceeded, "Very well, I'll continue for you." Once the Third Hokage filled him in, "After the scouts have reported the whereabouts of the Kyuubi, I believe Minato had spent the time coming up with ways to try and defeat the beast. During the free times I saw him, he look flustered, as if he hadn't seen daylight for quite some time."

"I talked with Kushina about it, but she was busy herself with young Naruto coming in about that time." His eyes raised, "That reminds me, where is she? She definitely wouldn't be on the front lines. I've already looked through the Namikaze Estate and she's not there, nor young Naruto, who should have been born just as the Kyuubi had arrived."

"Keisuke, why do you believe the times of Narutos birth and Kyuubis' coming would be so close?" He folded his arms, "It's a personal hunch. Earlier this week, I talked to Kushina and she believed that Naruto would be born today. I thought it strange, but her hunches are usually correct, as if by divine guidance."

Hiruzen frowned, "As it stands, we cannot make any conjectures. Instead, we must focus on what we know. The last time Minato and I spoke, he researched the Shiki Fuujin, a seal that uses a sacrifice to seal a demon within a new life. He told me that he would use his new baby if no other option brought itself. Sadly, he had to go with it."

Keisuke interrupted, "Now, we're in the present. The Kyuubi came down the mountain, our forces fought to stall as Minato was supposed to arrive, with me as a contingency plan to protect the people while risking my own life. By coincidence or sheer fortune, the Kyuubi had vanished without a trace."

Hiruzen took a deep breath, "We could count ourselves lucky, or believe that something sinister is in the works." They continued to talk before he agreed to allow Keisuke to take a small force to search for Minato.

A few days later…

Sarutobi sat at his desk, wondering about the search, when Keisuke bursts through the door. "Hokage-sama, come to the square immediately! You must see this!"

After Sarutobi had issued the search for the Fourth Hokage, things went according to plan. He put civilians and shinobi alike, working to rebuild their village. While the reconstruction was going forward, Keisuke and his crew of the villages' best searchers couldn't find the body of their Fourth Hokage.

As Sarutobi hurried with Keisuke to the center of the village, they witnessed the site. Upon a bloody wooden cross was their beloved leader. A giant mess of blood covered his chest, with a gash in his body with blood still slowly coming out. His usual sun-kissed blond hair, dirtied, shone in the sun, though only slightly. Perched above the cross was a crow, squawking at the masses. A silver haired young man ran up to shoo the crow away and cut the Hokage off, but was unsuccessful in both endeavors. The crow scared him slightly away as it nested in the leaders hair.

Many cupped their hands in dismay, with few staring intently at the display. "What do you make of this, Lord Hokage? Accounts from civilians who came earlier say that while they started todays reconstruction, the cross just appeared out of nowhere. They tried taking Minato off, but they were as successful as Kakashi."

Sarutobi rubbed his temples tiredly. "I'm too old for this shit." He sighed and pointed to the cross. "First we take the body off, kill the crow if need be. We'll plan for a funeral sometime this week. Try to keep this low key; we don't need outsiders knowing Minato is dead for as long as we can keep it a secret. I'll arrange a meeting with the Fire Lord at a later time to discuss safety measures."

Keisuke bowed, but was stopped again. "Also, how are things going with your clan? I understand that things are slightly shaken up with the death of Fugaku." Keisuke stared intently before replying. "Everyone's taking it pretty hard, especially young Itachi and Mikoto. I hear that she was pregnant before Fugaku died. It'll be tough with no father in his life."

The Hokage stared at him, before he figured out the message. "Me? I apologize, but I'm not fatherly material. I may be able to run an ANBU team, but I'm not good with life skills."

Hiruzen simply patted him on the back, "Keisuke, all boys need a father-figure in their life. Itachi was raised under Fugaku, and he's turned out to be one of the brightest minds of this generation, although he seems to have strayed off the path set for him. With no guidance, his little brother may become worse off than anyone in this village. No other clans have suffered like yours, Keisuke. Please keep that in mind."

He left the scene as Keisuke shined his glasses and helped the villagers reconstruct and clean up the mess. "_Brother, how would you have treated young Sasuke if you were still alive?"_

With the Uzumaki family…

As Konoha began reconstructing their village after their first encounter with the Kyuubi, the Uzumaki entourage left Fire Country and Water Country. They boarded the ship in the Kirigakure, Hidden Mist Village without too much trouble. True, while the currents were rough, due to sea monster sightings, the trip was fairly pleasant. "Sister, what do you make of these waters?"

She spat into the waters while tending young Naruto, "Fools messing with forces not meant to be understood. This country will be flooded by the upcoming Maelstrom." She grinned a suspicious grin as Kaito smiled widely.

Land of Whirlpools…

The ship landed safe enough at the port. The entourage hurried to the castle, presenting their successful retrieval of the package, Uzumaki Kushina and Namikazi Uzumaki Naruto.

A servant took Naruto to the palace nursery, while the queen, Kushinas adopted mother, escorted her to be cleaned up. "Welcome back, my lady. How has married life been treating you?" She tended to Kushina as she cleaned up.

Kushina said nothing as she stabbed the queen. The double merely smiled as it faded from existence. "Troublesome questions only lead to ones demise." She quickly cleaned up the mess.

Later…

Kushina walked to the nursery, clean from the day's activities. She wore a red gown and a tiara in her hair. The palace attendants and others welcomed her as she walked by. She asked the caretaker of the nursery, "Dr. Mizuki, how is Naruto?" The doctor, Mizuki Mari, was a young woman about Kushinas age. She had shoulder length blue hair wrapped in a red bow and a dreamy look about her. She replied, "Ah, Lady Kushina. Your son is in an excellent condition, from coming here so roughly."

Kushina nodded as she picked up her son. He slept as he was cradled in her arms. "Thank you for your analysis. Please keep up the good work."

A knock sounded as the person was allowed in. Mari asked him, "Ah, Kaito, how are you?" Uzumaki Kaito, dressed all in blue, walked in. He kept his head towards the ground, "I'm fine, thanks Mari. I actually wanted to speak to Kushina in private." She nodded as she gave Naruto to Mari, and they both walked out the door.

As Kushina shut the door behind her, "Kaito, did anything affect the mission in anyway? I've never seen you so flustered."

His face flushed as he pushed his emotions back. Kushina giggled, "I'm joking. So, is anything wrong?" He clenched his fist. "I think we may have overplayed our hand. The Leaf ninja are bound to find out that you are the one who murdered Minato. They'll come in full force."

She calmly assessed the situation. "We did what was necessary. Killing Minato was a necessary sacrifice. He would have died one way or another. This early death will push the Leaf to greater heights. If not, there are other methods. I will hear no more of this until it is deemed necessary. Do you understand, Kaito?"

He nodded as she left. "I hope you understand what you're doing. Out of all the Uzumaki family, you have been the most dangerous. Ever since you were found in the wilderness." He walked away but not before being punched in the back especially hard, also not knowing that Mari was watching the display. She quickly shut the door and tended to Naruto, who had just woken up.

Konoha…

As the villagers started funeral proceedings under the supervision of the Third Hokage, he was approached by Danzo Shimamura, one of the village elders. "Danzo, what are you doing here?"

"Peace, Sarutobi. We have no reason to fight amongst ourselves in this delicate situation. I was just coming to inform you of a startling discovery." He took a forehead protector with a gash and an engraved rose out of his pocket. "Do you recognize this?"

His eyes widened. "Are you accusing Minato's wife, Kushina, of murder and high treason?" Danzo was silent, but at this point, words were meaningless. The proof was right in front of them. Uzumaki Kushina, wife of Namikaze Minato, killed her husband.

"Deny it all you like, Hiruzen, but it's clear what you must do." Hiruzen simply pocketed the gear and left the proceedings, saddened by the events.

He decided that he would announce the evidence and walk along the new path set by today's events.

End

Please review.

I'm not going to make any promises, but I will say that I'll try my best to make at least one chapter of any of my stories at least once a month.

As I'm reading over my story, I'm making miniscule changes to my story to make sense.


	3. Chapter 3

Glimpses of the Future/ Konoha's New Step Forward

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other crossovers I may put into this work of fiction.

Reviewer's Corner (From Ch. 2):

: Yeah, I'm not that great at foreshadowing.

Please Read and Review

(A/N: This is mainly a transitional chapter; basically Naruto growing up. The story will _**hopefully**_, get going next chapter and on.

While the flash forward is happening, I'll show the time in Konoha. The reaction to the news and other stuff I can think of that needs to be said. May be a bit confusing, but I hope it'll sort itself out.)

Start

The day after the homecoming, Kushina was sitting in a rocking chair, watching her precious baby boy sleep. She thought about her previous life, as a wife, as a lover, as a newly initiated ninja to a foreign land. "Oh Minato, the future looks so grim. This is how life must be. You had a job to do and I have mine."

She looked at Naruto and kissed him on the forehead, "What kind of man will you be?"

Flash forward no Jutsu (2 years later)…

At the age of two, he made his first word, which was unsurprisingly, "Mommy." He eventually started learning how to walk and run at an exponentially fast rate. At the age of four, he had started running around palace, giving joy to all the palace's inhabitants.

"He's a ball of energy, and I love him like the kid I never wanted." Kaito joked around, while Mari looked down. "When I first saw him, I had thoughts in my mind, but I eventually warmed up with him and discarded the thoughts."

Naruto, garbed in a white t-shirt and shorts, went up to her mother, the red-haired princess of Whirlpool country, and gave her a big kiss on the cheek. "Mommy." She picked him up and kissed him as well, also on the cheek.

Normal time (Konoha) …

It was the day after Hiruzen had received the Kushina's 'letter of resignation' from Danzo. He was mulling over the previous days events in detail.

Flashback no Jutsu (The previous day)…

"Deny it all you like, Hiruzen, but it's clear what you must do." Hiruzen simply pocketed the gear and left the proceedings, saddened by the events.

_Later that day, he announced the findings to villagers in Konoha. Everyone was shocked, even the remaining members of the Uchiha clan, including Uchiha Keisuke, and the normally stoic Aburame Clan._

_He was bombarded with questions, but he had stated, "Everyone, please listen! I am only going by what Danzo has given me." He then started to explain the treacherous events that were believed to have happened the night before._

_Everyone murmured amongst themselves. The unanimous decision voiced out were to simply do nothing, as they had an idea of how power the Whirlpool Nation was, but also knew very little about their former allies. Everyone else, including the more 'intelligent' remaining clans was either neutral or had nothing to say. _

Normal time (again)…

The Professor, once known as the God of Shinobi, grumbled to himself, "Maybe that wasn't a good choice."

As he continued his paperwork, he was startled by a knock on the door. "Come in," not looking up at the sound. "Old Man Hokage, I wanted to talk to you about something."

He looked up and staring him in the face was the blooming flower, Eiji Kamiya, otherwise known as Gin. He was considered a rising genius within the shinobi ranks, nearing Nara Shikaku's intelligence. "Ah, Gin, what can I do for you?"

The black haired man fidgeted with his vest before speaking, " Uchiha Keisuke spoke to me before talking to you about. I have a good idea about what's going on." The Third Hokage asked, "Oh, do you? That puts me in a bit more comfortable spot."

He scratched his head, "Do you believe Kushina killed Minato?" Hiruzen simply said, "All we can believe is what we see in front of us. It is clearly Kushina's headband, it's been checked by the research department to make sure it hasn't been tampered with."

"I see. This is one confusing mess we have in our hands, isn't it?" Hiruzen simply chuckled, "You have no idea."

The two exchanged theories, but there was nothing conclusive. They didn't want to condemn the poor woman than what was already done. It was decided that Hiruzen would simply let life run its course. He had no idea what lie in the roots of the tree known as Konoha.

Root HQ – Undisclosed…

Danzo Shimura, a member of the council of Konoha, a man to be feared, paced around a nearly empty underground laboratory. A man in a black suit, known as an ANBU, approached him. However, something was special about this ANBU. He was of the ANBU Ne, a special sect of the ANBU organization made by Danzo himself.

"What do you have to report?" The Ne knelt down and delivered his report, "Sir, it seems that all traces of Uzumaki Kushina, as well as Namikaze Minato have completely vanished. No matter how hard we have searched, we are unable to find them."

Danzo cursed mentally, "_That__crafty__bitch!__" _He asked another question, "Never mind that, we'll somehow circumvent it. Have you found out where she was moved?"

The Ne shook his head. As Danzo was about to curse himself again, his agent said. "We did find something from our allies in Water Country though. Apparently, a large caravan was sighted on its way to a ship heading towards the Matriarch of Whirlpool."

"_Whirlpool,__eh?__It__'__s__a__treasure__trove__of__knowledge__and__wonders.__I__'__ve__tried__using__Uzumaki__Kushina__to__get__to__the__queendom,__but__no__such__luck.__Obstacles__of__all__kinds__guarding__her__from__my__path,__including__the__damnable__Fourth__Hokage__himself.__"_

As he mentally calmed down, "That is interesting, indeed."

He plotted to himself as he called him away. "This may be more to my liking than I thought."

With Keisuke…

He kept spearheading the effort to rebuild Konoha, however, he was feeling something in his heart. "_Kushina,__why__did__you__kill__Minato?__Weren__'__t__you__loved__ones?__Wasn__'__t__your__love__supposed__to__last__forever__and__ever?__" _He thought about the state of things and thought about his life.

"I might have to be the new head of the Uchiha clan. I might be the one raising Itachi and Sasuke. Huh, Mikoto as well." He never realized how the death of one person could affect the lives of others to such a degree. He sighed, "I have a lot of stuff to do."

With Gin…

Once he got home, he sighed loudly. "Damn, with everything going on now, it's nice to get back home and see a familiar face." He entered the door and saw his girlfriend, Aya. The red-haired woman kissed him on the cheek, "How has it been, stranger?"

He sighed as he kissed her, "You wouldn't believe my life." She smiled, "Try me."

Back with Naruto (Two year later again)…

Now, at the age of four, Naruto had still not yet learned anything, except how to speed up and speak eloquently. As children his age were barely able to speak coherent sentences, he was able to advance at a much higher level, all thanks to Kiharu Atsuro, the renowned 'genius' trainer.

Graduating from the academy at an early age, he was acknowledged as a master strategist. Although he was not as fast as others, he could make up for it with his intellect and strength.

Atsuro gave Naruto daily lessons, which could last anywhere from 10 minutes to three hours. At first, it was about the speech, but within the first few days, he started lecturing about different subjects.

While Naruto didn't get everything right away, he knew that it might be useful within days to come. He bowed to his teacher, "Thank you, Atsuro-sensei." He simply brushed it off, "No need to thank me, I'm just doing my job, " He bowed politely and left.

Aside from the 'genius' lessons, Naruto also received many lessons from Kaito, especially fighting lessons.

Kaito advised Naruto on what to do when facing against an opponent large than him, while kicking him. "In a battle, one must think on his toes. It's okay to dodge while you're training, but in a battle, your opponent will eventually be able to take advantage of it. So, I'm going to teach you a few moves to guard against that chance." He pointed to his shoulders, arms, and legs. "Use them in conjunction to block hard strikes." He then pointed to his fists, "Redirection is the key to victory." He finally delivered a large kick, "All enemies have a weak point in their attack pattern. If you can figure out that pattern, you'll be able to win!"

He kicked Naruto as he blocked, but the boy was still knocked back. "However, all of this information is useless unless you're much stronger. We'll start conditioning your body tomorrow!" The boy nodded as they continued the light practice.

Konoha (The same time)…

Sarutobi Hiruzen was once again, working at the desk, as he sighed. It had been over four years since the Kyuubi no Yoko had attacked Konoha. The village was slowly starting to get back on its feet.

The Hokage was deep in thought. "_These__last__four__years__… __they__have__been__troublesome,__indeed.__Starting__from__the__death__of__Namikaze__Minato,__continuing__with__a__long,__laundry__list__of__disasters__one__right__after__another.__Yet,__in__this__sea__of__chaos,__there__is__a__nugget__of__hope.__" _He looks out to the shining sky and the reconstructed village. "_This__village__is__different__from__before,__yet,__I__feel__a__new__hope__slowly__emerging.__A__new__generation__of__young__ones__ready__to__take__up__the__mantle__of__fire__and__learn__the__will__of__fire__and__protect__their__home.__"_ He readjusted his Hokage hat and went back to his paperwork.

A knock came from his door, "The door's open." The door was opened gently and revealed Uchiha Keisuke with a four-year-old boy standing beside him. He was still in the Uchiha clan head robes, a long blue ceremonial robe with the Uchiha crest. The boy was wearing a loose blue gi and white shorts. His hair was spiked to the back. "Ah, Keisuke-kun, pleasure to see you. This must be Sasuke." The two humbly nodded.

Keisuke let go of Sasuke's hand and let him wander around, while he talked with Hiruzen. "Ah, Sarutobi-san, it's been a while. I wanted to talk to you." He took a seat as he talked, "It's about Itachi. I think you should drop him from Anbu." This caused slight surprise with both the Hokage and Sasuke.

Hiruzen cupped his hands together and asked, "Why? In my years and Minato's years as Hokage, Itachi has always been a valuable asset. He does his missions diligently and successfully. He never seems to complain nor does he tire of it." As he finished his lecture, "Or possibly, does it have to do with his psychological state?"

"Sasuke-kun, can you please wait outside?" Sasuke begrudgingly did what he was told. "That boy thinks the world of Itachi. Itachi is his hero. It wouldn't be right for me to suggest what should be done about this in front of him." He sighed before he continued.  
"I want him off Anbu."

Hiruzen was able to guess what Keisuke had wanted before he even asked, yet the word still came out of his mouth. "Why?"

He looked around the room before replying, "Lately, Itachi has been rather withdrawn. Well, more withdrawn than usual. He won't talk with anyone besides Sasuke or his friend Shisui. Mikoto and I have tried to get him to speak with us, but it was no use. When I tried to press him for information, he yells, "You're not my father! You can't tell me what to do!" He storms away and continues trying to improve himself." He stops for a moment and continues again, "Mikoto and I think the stress of being an elite is too much for him. It's only a matter of time before he collapses and makes a fatal error. I've seen it during my time."

Sarutobi remembered Keisuke the White Barrier as an Anbu Captain. "Ah yes, you were similar. A genius of another caliber, but I believe you quit before you reached your full potential. As I recall, you were less destructive than Itachi, yet, you had just as much success on your missions." He waved his hands, "Please, Hokage-sama, we're talking about Itachi and what the best course of action should be."

"Yes, excuse my ramblings. Hearing your side of the story, I do believe that barring Itachi from the Anbu is the best decision. Perhaps he will make a larger impact on Konoha that way instead of doing so in secret." Keisuke mused at the idea, but it was not to be. He bowed as he exited and led Sasuke back to the Uchiha compound. "Come, we have much to do."

Sasuke asked his uncle politely, "Is it true that Itachi is going to be finished with his job?" He didn't know what to say, so he simply nodded. "It'll be hard to get used to, but yes. I feel that it's the best choice for him." Sasuke was silent for the rest of the way.

When they got back to the Uchiha Compound, Keisuke told Itachi the news. He surprisingly took it well. He was afraid of saying that he wanted to quit, as Keisuke was a well-known preacher of justice. He thought that his uncle would be disappointed in him so he never said anything. "Every person has their own justice. You must not let another's wave of justice drown your own," is what Keisuke said when Itachi confessed to him.

During the previous years, when Keisuke had become the head, he had made massive reforms within the clan. Instead of an Uchiha-only police force, he had other clans join in as well, since the tradition of Uchiha-only police was rather unfair to the other clans. This stopped the Uchiha clan from getting larger egos'. It took some time for the new members to warm up to the Uchiha members, but eventually, they had a working relationship.

On another day, Sasuke trained under Itachi's supervision. Now that Itachi stopped working as an Anbu, he joined the police force and quickly worked his way up. Although out of the dangerous life, he did more regular missions than any other jounin his own age. Keisuke was a bit worried, but if this made him happy, he wouldn't be able to stop Itachi.

Itachi yelled numbers at Sasuke, which signaled which combinations he should do. He did them flawlessly, as Itachi increased the pace. After working hard for a while longer, he said, "Good job Sasuke. We should stop now and take a break for the day." As he was about to leave, he noticed sounds of practicing. He turned back and saw his brother practicing, "Sasuke! What are you doing?"

The boy was sweating considerably, but he did not seem to be tired at all. He hit the dummy with increased force, as it started to strain against the blows. After a few more blows, the dummy exploded. Sasuke quickly calmed down and said, "Alright, let's go." He quickly turned around and walked back to the house. As he passed the former Anbu, Itachi could feel a slight presence. He shook it off as quickly as it came.

"This feeling is familiar. It… terrifies me. I must tell Uncle." He quickly rejoined Sasuke, now out of his trance.

Timeskip (Next four years overall)…

Over the next four years, there were vast changes throughout the world.

Although the death of the Uchiha head, Uchiha Fugaku, shook Konoha, the new head, Uchiha Keisuke took the village by storm. His new tactics of incorporating other clans and new individuals strengthened the bonds of Konoha. All the ninja under in his fighting force respected him greatly. While supervising the training of the new and old recruits, he would also think of new ways to strengthen the village as a member of the council.

As a new member of the council, Eiji Kamiya also worked with Sarutobi Hiruzen o strengthen the village. This greatly infuriated Danzo, as their motives were an intrinsic counter to his own. In his mind, he would abolish the nurturing way of the academy and instead use his own method of training shinobi to rid themselves of their emotions and become the greatest tools. Although abolished, he kept pressuring the old leader to bring it back into light. However, with the two new 'generals', the pressure was coming in less and smaller waves.

"The two youngsters, Uchiha Keisuke and Eiji Kamiya… They have great skill, but they lack true direction. They are only lagging behind Hiruzen as loyal dogs. They could be excellent assets for myself, but that would require too much work." As he mused the idea, one of his Anbu Ne walked up to him. "Ah, you've come back. Is there any new information regarding the Whirlpool."

The informant shook his head and handed a report. "Curses. Ever since our first spy was found within Whirlpool, it's become more hostile than ever. I've heard that other nations have sent spies before, but they were unable to return successfully with any information." He shooed away the informant. "The Whirlpool is an enemy that must be eliminated by any means necessary, but how?" He then vanished into the darkness.

In other areas of the village, the Uchiha clan in particular, things were going well. Sasuke, at eight years old, has become the new model for geniuses in the village. He has surpassed the previous genius, Uchiha Itachi, however, in all of his 'modesty' he has declined the chance for promotion. Instead, he chooses to stay in the academy for a more traditional route.

Having told the new head of the clan of the problem, Keisuke kept an eye on Sasuke. The boy however, had displayed no sense of any dangerous behavior. "I felt it for a brief second Uncle, but it was truly there. Sasuke and I were the only ones at the training ground, and I felt a chill creep down my spine. It felt like an ancient killing intent that rivaled my own." Keisuke considered possibilities, but it was all just a feeling. With his hand on his nephews' shoulder, and said with a smile, "I will do my job as the clan head; nothing more, nothing less. Should such a problem continue, I leave it up to you to handle it however you choose."

At the moment, Sasuke with the same clothes as his younger self four years ago, this time re-outfitted, was training with a new dummy. "These dummies are weak, " He talked to himself as he trained. " A real challenge… When will I receive such a chance?" He cried in ecstasy as he blew a head off another dummy. He went up and picked up the head and crushed it. "Looks like another weak victim." He headed back into the compound.

As he walked in to clean himself, he saw Itachi at the door. He asked in a cheerful voice, "Going out, Itachi-ni?" Itachi saw his brother and replied, "I have to meet someone, I will see you later." He doubled back, "Will you be free tonight?"

Sasuke was surprised. Besides training, Itachi never let him into his personal life. "I don't have any plans tonight, why?" Itachi stared at the corner, "My old friend, Eiji Kamiya-san, the owner of a local bar asked about my family. I mentioned you and he asked me to take you to him. He and his girlfriend Aya-san seem to have adopted a girl about your age. She seems strange, but good for you." He smiled, "I see you at school making friends, but other than that, you're not attempting to strengthen the bonds you're making."

Sasuke smirked, "The people there are too boring, I want a challenge. Something I can further dissect and perhaps use to improve myself." He pocketed his hands. "I suppose I'll come along with you." Itachi nodded, and looked at his clothes, "Also, wear something else. You've worn those clothes for the past four years." Sasuke looked at what he was wearing, "I see no problem with them. There are functional and serve my purposes well enough." Itachi shrugged, "Well enough indeed." He left for his important business.

As Sasuke considered the aspect of new clothing, he remembered a present from four years ago. A cloak made of a strange material; never worn or washed. "Itachi has a roundabout way of presenting things."

He searched through his closet until he found the box and tore it open to find out what lay inside. Inside was a long blackish-greenish cloak. He donned the cloak and found that it was almost custom-made for him. He leaves with a sense of accomplishment.

At Whirlpool…

Naruto was training hard with Kaito, under the watchful eye of Kushina. Ever since he injured himself while training, she never trusted her younger brother. "Good work, Naruto," He took a look behind him and uneasily said, "I think we should stop for the day."

Naruto, now at the age of eight, was still roughly the same four years ago. As he grew predictably, he was stronger, but his muscles didn't show for it. As he was disappointed by the lack of muscles, Kushina showed him how strong he actually was.

Besides training with Kaito or learning from Atsuro, he was almost always with his mother. Aside from more private affairs, they did everything together. They wandered the streets of the village, the villagers awed at the two from afar, 'the sun and the fiery sky'. Although the people in the village were curious at how their prince had blond hair, they often disregarded it.

At a council meeting, Kushina and her advisors discussed the future of the village. "Kushina-sama, what is your goal for the future?" An elder, still reasonably suspicious with the ascent of Uzumaki Kushina, as leader of the village.

With her eyes closed the whole time, she opened them and dramatically revealed her plans, "I… intend to create an empire, with its base in Whirlpool." The entire council was shocked, but allowed her to continue. "The land is rife with violence and so far, no one has been able to unite the entire world together. It's my wish to conquer all the villages, and establish my dream empire."

They looked upon her eyes, as they appeared normal, but with a slight haze. "With all due respects, Kushina-sama, I do believe you've gone mad! We cannot tolerate such a bold act of treachery to the name of Whirlpool. We are the Whirlpool, warriors born with a determination to keep foreign objects out of our space. I do believe, spending time in Konoha has given you many new ideas. Dangerous ideas that threaten our peaceful way of life."

She giggled, "I understand what you are saying, and, while I do believe you are correct, I disagree." She smiled and shoved her sword into him. "Minister, this plan will go without fail, and the people in this room will also meet tragic deaths. I have also appointed new members to replace you all." She smiled before saying, "Good day forever, everyone." They were killed in a flash. The murderer reappeared next to Kushina, and knelt in front of her. "Kushina-sama, it is nice to see you again."

"Rise Momochi Zabuza-kun, you have much to prepare for." They both walked away from the scene, as the door was closed, revealing Uzumaki Kaito. "The new order is ready, sister. Shall I inform everyone of the new happenings?" Kushina simply shook her head, "We'll take it one step at a time. Conquest starts within the home. We'll have a large 'festival' to root out all the ones capable of allying with us, and we'll conquer the rest." Kaito and Zabuza smiled, "This'll be fun."

End

At last, I'm done with this chapter of a nightmare. I think… it's gotten to the point where I want to write the exciting stuff, and just skip all the explaining. I've had ideas of a future brewing in my mind for a while, and it's interfering with my capacity to write well (I think). Hopefully it's good for everyone.

Aside from that, I think I may be straying a bit from the challenge, but I will try to readdress some issues and fix it later.


	4. Chapter 4

The Final Flash Part I

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other crossovers I may put into this work of fiction.

Reviewer's Corner (From Ch. 3):

Noname: Cool…

: More foreshadowing…

Please Read and Review

A/N: Last transition where I bring everyone I've worked on together to when Naruto really starts. I'll try and explain what happens in the past as best as I can. Any questions will be answered in the next chapter.

Start

2 years later …

In a large room, filled with a myriad of equipment, something marvelous/horrifying was happening. A boy, clad with heavy equipment, was training to improve his muscles many times over.

Kushina, his trainer for the day, said, "In the old days, fighters didn't have to worry about muscle training because they sparred so often. Peaceful times have made the newer generations frail and weak. This is particularly why wars take so many lives." She pointed to the equipment, "This will make you stronger, but also keep your lean body, so you don't have extra muscles to slow you down. Now, get going!" She barked orders like a drill instructor. She seriously didn't want to take such a serious path, "_You__need__to__be__strong__for__the__upcoming__events.__Show__everyone__what__you__'__re__made__of.__" _Her pupils flashed a gold color.

"_Mothers__a__slave__driver,__but__she__'__s__right.__"_ Over the first month of the new training, he nearly passed out, but as he got better, he started to care less. "_This__is__for__her__sake!__She__believes__in__me!__"_ He worked harder in order from that point on.

Over the past two years, rather than any special training, Naruto has been conditioning his body for the future. "You will have a hard future ahead of you. It'll be best to prepare your body the right way for all kinds of combat situations." He smiled, and started working the hardest in his life.

The conditioning involved strengthening all of his muscles to peak levels, while keeping them in good shape. This was a difficult task since the kind of training involved would take at least a decade. "Naruto, do you know the purpose of a whirlpool?"

"A whirlpool is not small or large. It can be of various sizes, and whirlpools often surround islands with a dark secret. The Uzumaki clan an in extension, our village and kingdom, has existed to protect the secrets of our first ancestors. We must keep our secrets away from all the foreigners seeking to use them for their own use." He understood his job, and would do it to his best extent.

In another room…

As Naruto continued training with his mother, a meeting began. One of the new council members, Kiharu Atsuro, tilted his headgear downward, "Kushina-san, how is Naruto doing? I haven't seen him lately?"

Kushina, who appeared to be dozing off, replied, "I apologize, Kiharu-san, but Kaito wanted me to make his body withstand his training, so I took him to the special room." He smirked, "Ah, that place."

In every village, there are secret sites, where someone can manipulate for any purpose they want. These sites were created to suit the wish of whoever happened to populate the area at the time.

"Do any of the other villages know about the sites, or are you keeping the secret to us?" She chuckled, "Knowledge is not freely given. In order to gain something, something of equal value must be lost, or something like that."

Another new member, Momochi Zabuza, former member of the Seven Swordsman of the Mist, asked, "This is all fascinating stuff, but when are we starting this meeting?" He asked gruffly.

Kaito stiffly said, "Momochi, you might have gotten Kushinas' favor, but don't act like the big dog in this place. Be respectful to your elders!" Zabuza glared at him from the opposite side. "You want to make something out of this, pointy haired freak?"

He coolly replied, "At least I have my eyebrows." He screamed out loud and drew his sword, Kubikiri Houcho. He brought out a handle and pressed it hard to unleash a blade of pure chakra, "Bring it on, bitch!"

Before they crossed swords, Kushina broke the table in half. "Enough of this, children! Now, why don't we all behave before something bad happens." She gave a killer intent filled glare that would put the most hardened criminals to shame.

The two withdrew their swords. Zabuza said, "You're not worth the trouble." Kaito sneered. Kushina simply smiled, as did Atsuro.

A second later, the final member appeared. Dressed in a conservative style, with her hair tied back, also with a mini skirt. She bowed lightly, "I am called Shoji, pleased to meet you."

Kushina said, "Alright! Now that everyone is here, let's start!" They rearranged themselves rather uncomfortably. The newcomer started first, "From all the data you wanted me to gather, I assume you want me to start." Kushina nodded while playing with her hair.

Shoji pulled out a clipboard, "For the last few years, Kushina-sama wanted me to gather information on this village and how her brutal coup seems to have affected everyone. In short, it seems to be going rather well." Atsuro raised his hand, "Kiharu-san, this isn't a school. You can talk without raising your hand."

He flipped out his tongue. "Ah, sorry. Anyways, " He fiddled around with his hat, "you seem to be missing a very big detail." Just then, Shoji took a few pieces of paper from her pocket and handed them out to everybody. Zabuza wide-eyed said, "What…"

She flipped her hair, "You're correct, Kiharu-san. Over the last few years, a rogue group that called themselves the Shomonkai has decided to make it know. As of now, we don't have any information on whether it is dangerous or not."

On the poster handed out to everybody stated, "The path to salvation is in your hands~ Join your fellow brothers in arms~ Help rid this world of contradictions~" The list goes on with 'self-righteous' propaganda.

Kaito crumpled up his paper, "I heard that this group has made its way to every village. I wonder if it's been to Konoha yet." He chuckled. He looked to Kushina, "Wouldn't it be funny…"

Before he could finish, he found himself almost impaled by her long-sword. All the posters were sliced to bits, and her killer intent flooded the room. Her deathly stare, red with swirls, death mixed with danger, reflected the inside of her soul, "This group is dangerous. If it is able to mature fully, it will destroy us all. That can't be allowed to happen." As she stared into Kaito, her eyes reverted back to blue, the color of freedom.

She quickly ran before they could talk to her, but they were too shaken up anyway. Atsuro, the first one to shake it off, "The k-killer intent… every time I feel it… something…" Everyone was too shaken up to speak.

The leader of the village, Uzumaki Kushina, everybody's idol, looked terrified for the first time in her life. "_Why__now?__Why__is__this__feeling__so__… __familiar?__"_ She sought out something to hold, protection that would never leave her. "_Oh,__Minato~__"_

As she was about to fall, a door opened, and she fell into someone's arms. In her daze, she saw a familiar shadow. Her feelings were frayed from the trauma and the feelings were easily manipulated. She quickly fainted in the 'unfamiliar' arms.

A few seconds ago…

Naruto, tired from his training, "Man, the water clone suddenly disappeared. What the-" As he exited the door, he felt something tip him over. He squeezed, not knowing what he was touching at the time. "_Soft-__" _As he looked to what he was carrying in horror, he mentally screamed, not letting go for a second.

He looked around, making sure that no one was watching. He carefully placed his mother down and headed back into the room. Just then, he felt pressure on his left leg. "Eh?"

He had a feeling, but looked down anyway. As he moved from his leg to an arm and eventually the body, he started losing it. "Pull yourself together. No matter what we do, we still have a mother and son bond, and nothing will take it away from us." He didn't know what his mom was talking about at that time, but he would later. She motioned for him to crouch down. "Really?" She smiled, tired after the trauma, "Really." The pinky-swore.

He sat down, still resting from the nearly endless training he was given. "You know, Naruto. From the muscles you gained from training, you remind me of your father." He looked intensely. This was the first time he had heard about his father.

From the time he was able to understand words, he would always hear, "Please do your best for Kushina-ojou, Naruto-sama." Praise about his mother, never anything about his father. His relationships made him content with his life, and his uncle gave him a male role model. He jokingly said, "Why do you need more than one man in your life? Aren't I enough?" The pervious days are always simpler when something new comes along.

Trapped in the confines of the castle, away from a 'real life' with friends his own age, Naruto grew up away from a fatherly role model. He never realized he might need one in his life.

She sat back against the wall, "Your father, Namikaze Minato, was wonderful. Everyone loved him. His sun-kissed hair seems to attract the attention of everyone. His smile caused the whole village to smile in turn. His excited demeanor and zest for life was refreshing in a dead environment." Naruto continued to listen, as others crept up on her story.

"When he was serious, he always knew what to do. His comrades were always his number one concern. His personal motto was, "Those who break the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are lower than trash!" Naruto admired his old man; He was a real warrior.

A tear fell from her eyes after, "He eventually died on a mission. It was a dangerous one, but he leapt forward with all his might in order to save his friends. He got crucified and …" She cried into her arm. Naruto, not knowing what to do, patted her on the back. She hugged him tightly and gripped onto his arm, "Why do you look like him so damn much?" She wept loudly, as Naruto continued to comfort her.

As she continued to cry, Naruto vowed to himself. _"__Mom__has__a__pretty__face__without__her__tears__in__her__way.__I__'__ll__fight__everyone__… __so__I__can__see__that__face__again!__"_ He embraced her tightly, as she stopped crying. "I'll fight for you from now on. I'll be… your silver knight! In order to see the smile on your face!"

Once she stopped crying, her face was sensitive and red from the crying. She quietly thanked her son while he went back to improve his body, preparing to be molded into something greater.

Kaito and Atsuro walked out of the shadows. She looked towards them, "How long have you two been standing there? Where are Zabuza and Shoji?"

Kaito told her. "The no eye-brows kid said that he didn't want to watch a soap opera. Shoji on the other hand went to gather more information on the Shomonkai." Atsuro helped her up and asked, "I've heard from Mizuki-sensei and Kaito. Will you tell Naruto-kun the truth or keep living this lie?"

She looked towards the setting sun. "He'll know the truth when it's necessary. Although, in the mean time, I think it's necessary to perpetuate the lie, ne?" She grinned mischievously. They nodded. "Lets' go and let him continue in peace." The day's events ended better than imagined.

Konoha…

Over the years, a dramatic change also took in Konoha. Over the past two years, it was as if the Uchiha clan had nearly vanished from existence. No one had a clue what was going on. The last vestiges of the clan were the family Uchiha Keisuke had adopted, consisting of Sasuke and his younger sister Itsuko.

It was a night like any other. Everyone was having a good time, celebrating the changes within their home, for the better. Then, the lights suddenly flashed out. When Keisuke went to check what was wrong, it flashed again and revealed that the majority of the clan had disappeared. The only ones remaining were his adopted family.

He checked all over the place and no one was there. He continued to shout, "Where is everybody!" Yet no one seemed to hear him.

When he went back to his home, he found Itsuko clinging on to Sasuke. "Whats' wrong, uncle? Itsuko has been clutching my arm for the past few minutes? Where is everyone?" At that time, they realized that no one else was there. It was as if all the Uchiha members had been spirited away.

He slumped his shoulders and went back to see his family. "It's a mystery, Sasuke. It's as if everyone left us. We… are the last Uchiha left in Konoha."

Over the years, the three learned to deal with the situation. However, there were other things in the horizon.

As the Uchiha clansmen were still prominent members of the police force, it eventually fell to disarray. No new members joined over that period. The elder members apologized but they eventually quit, Keisuke said, "This old tradition… it's been in my family since the village was first established my our ancestor." He closed the police station for good. It is said that he may have lost his spirit of justice that day.

One year (after the incident)…

It was a mellow day. The sun wasn't too bright, and there weren't any imminent worries. Everything was good.

A knock sounded on the Hokage's door. "Please, come in." Uchiha Keisuke walked in, his robes fluttering in the breeze. He had a sullen expression on his face.

A pleasant look flashed on his face, "What is this meeting about?" He took a seat and began to explain, "Last year, I asked if there were any signs of strange happenings around the village. I still haven't received any replies. Are you hiding anything from me?"

He lit his pipe and said, "I suppose I can't keep this from you any longer." He coughed loudly, and said, "Over the past few years, the status quo of this village has largely stayed the same. Not much has changed, excluding minor reconstruction. However, over the past few years, there have been significant changes. I have heard rumors of such activity occurring in other villages around the continent."

"The group, or more like a cult, calls itself the Shomonkai. I've heard many utterances of the word, yet I have no idea of it's purpose or why it exists." He took another drag of his pipe. Keisuke listened patiently, but also had a nagging feeling in his heart.

He sighed inwardly, "I have a feeling about the Shomonkai. The name feels very familiar to me somehow." He readjusted his glasses, and gave a slightly dazed look, "Is there any more information you're willing to give?"

He frowned, "I apologize. This year must have been tough for you, especially for young Sasuke and Itsuko." Keisuke merely waved his hands, "It's no trouble. I think they've coped with it now." He bowed politely and left.

Konoha Academy…

The academy, where young boys and girls learn to become shinobi for the village, tools of war, and all that jazz. A place where minds are to be molded…

While Umino Iruka, a teacher in the academy, droned on about the history of Konoha, Sasuke was nearly falling asleep. "_This__academy__is__boring,__yet__I__still__have__to__do__this.__" _He yawned inwardly, "_It__'__s__a__price__to__pay__to__become__stronger.__" _He noticed all the looks he received, but merely brushed them away. "_There__'__s__only__one__prize__in__this__worn__down__place__that__I__want.__"_

He looked towards Hyuuga Hinata, a member of the Hyuuga clan, a 'rival' clan of the Uchiha clan. While the Uchiha were famed for their Sharingan, the Hyuuga clan was famed for their Byakugan. "Bloodlines, clans, what's useful about such mundane aspects?"

He didn't care so much about the prestige of clans or the bloodlines, but he did care about winning over the heart of the heiress. While all of the girls in his class seemed under his 'charms', his 'charms' wouldn't be able to claim her. "Although I have no interest in this plane of existence, my curiousness desires to be satiated."

Hinata's POV…

It was a normal school day. Iruka-sensei was discussing the history of the village, while I jotted down notes. It seemed as if everyone was 'paying attention'. Once in a while, he would do his 'Demon Head' technique, scaring anyone unlucky enough to get his attention. Everybody laughed on cue.

I had a strange feeling at the back of my head, but as I turned around, it disappeared in a flash. "_Uchiha__Sasuke.__" _She quickly turned back and worked diligently.

Normal POV…

He sighed to himself, "_A__girl,__that__I,__Uchiha__Sasuke,__am__unable__to__obtain?__" _He continued to muse to himself, while he became the next object of Iruka's attention. "Uchiha Sasuke! Quit zoning out and come down here!" When he awoke from his daze, he noticed Iruka was seething mad. "Ah, I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei. I was burning the midnight oil while training. I managed to master all three basic jutsu with my uncle."

Everyone was a bit shocked, but not too surprised. Iruka responded, "No matter who you are, if you're going to sleep in class, I would rather you do it at home, in a comfortable bed. Coming here tired would be troublesome, wouldn't it Shikamaru?" He yelled at another genin, Nara Shikamaru, infamous for sleeping in class. He quickly woke up and apologized, causing everyone to be uneasy.

Iruka cleared his throat, "Now that I have your attention, may I welcome a new student." He opened the door and a red-haired girl came in. She wore a blouse with a zipper, reaching down to her waist. She had a bored expression on her face. She bowed, "I am Yoshino Harusawa, but please, call me Haru. Please take care of me for the next two years."

Iruka took a look at his roll sheet, "Hmm, we seem to have a vacancy over… there." He pointed to an empty seat beside Sasuke. She looked towards the ground as she walked towards him. When she got there, he pulled her seat out, "How are you?" She smiled gently and took the seat.

Sasuke could hear girls, except Hinata, around him fuming. He cared not, as he reminisced about when he met the odd girl.

Flashback no Jutsu (Last year)…

Sasuke donned the cloak as he walked around outside, smelling the crisp air. "Could this day get any better?" He walked around the village, hearing admiration about his new choice of attire, thanking everyone along the way.

He met Itachi while walking around, "Ah, Sasuke-kun, good of you to come." He noticed his cloak, "I see you decided to wear the present that you were given." Sasuke tried to remember when he got it, but nothing came to mind. "You must really thank uncle for this."

The two walked to another section with a bar. "Come in, the house is on top of this place." They walked up to the second floor, where they met up with a beautiful silver haired woman wearing a black dress. "You must be Sasuke. It's good to meet you." When he felt her touch, he felt a wave crash into him, his knees felt uneasy, and he felt uncomfortable, but he flushed the feeling away. "After we all eat, I believe Gin has something to talk about." He nodded. "I have someone you may want to meet. This concerns her as well. Haru, you can come in now!"

A red-haired girl was called in. She had… a distinct aura about her. It felt odd, but almost harmless, yet dangerous at the same time.

Dinner was a bit of a quiet affair. No one talked much, although they looked like they could talk a earful. After they all finished, Gin led Haru and Sasuke to another room, while Aya and Itachi waited.

Gin sat as a father about to scold a son. "Sasuke, I've heard about your talent from my friend Keisuke and young Itachi. I don't know how to say this, but I'm afraid I'll be ousted from this village eventually. I don't know when, but in this time, I want you to promise that you'll take care of Haru." He bowed deeply as Haru shivered.

"Can't you ask another family to do this? Why do you want an eight year old to look after someone his own age?" For the first time in his life, Sasuke couldn't handle the pressure. When asked by his uncle and brother to surpass his limits, he tried as best he could. When asked to take care of his infant sister, he also tried very hard. However, taking care of another human being is hard work, especially when it's someone your own age.

Gin cupped his hands together, "I don't expect you to take care of her by yourself. Your family should still be around after the upcoming crisis. However, as a promise, man to man, do you accept it?" His fears lessened, but he still knew not what to do. He looked to Haru, who had an expectedly terrified look on her face.

"She's an orphan. Her parents died of mysterious causes and she was left to die. Aya happened to meet up with her in Water Country. They moved here quite a few years ago. We've been living in this bar for the past two years."

Sasuke tried to peace the info together, "What about the upcoming danger? Is there a way to prevent that?" Sasuke was a man who didn't like uncertainty in his life. He was taught to treasure his family above all else. "In a fight to protect the law or the family, family always comes first," this would be his nindo.

Gin simply scratched his head. "If there was a way, I would tell you." He sighed, "I have a sixth sense for these kinds of situations. When I look at someone, I can always tell when something unfortunate will happen to that person. If I can't do it, then that person's fate has been…" He ended uneasily.

The meeting eventually ended with Sasuke giving a man's promise to take care of Haru. The two toasted with sake, leading to a drunken stupor for both, as they sang incoherently throughout the night. Itachi was fuming since Keisuke didn't approve of bars and he would get scolded by the fierce fighter of justice, Keisuke of the White Barrier.

Present time…

As Sasuke mused, class ended. Haru and Sakura, president of the Sasuke Fan Club were both shaking him. He awoke with a daze, "Ah, Haru, thank you." He looked towards Sakura and gave her a nod and a small smile. The two held hands and walked along, but after some prodding, Sasuke asked, "Sakura, would you like to come with us?" She squealed shrilly.

They ended up walking around the village, Haru asking Sakura a lot about academy life. As the resident bookworm, Sakura answered all the questions with ease. Haru was amazed at her, but Sakura also returned the 'favor', asking a lot about Sakura. Haru answered as best as she could, this slightly peeved Sasuke, as the less the fan girls knew about him, the better.

They ended up walking Sakura home. "Isn't she smart? I wonder why no one's asked her out yet?" _"__I__wonder__why?__"_

Haru looked towards Sasuke and hugged him, "This has been a wonderful time, spending the rest of the day with you, but I have to go. Let's do this again sometime." He just waved slightly.

He felt his hands, warm from Haru's and Sakura's touch. He drifted back to the compound where he trained and watched over his little sister.

Normal time (2 years later)…

Over the last two years, Konoha was relatively unchanged. As the villagers aged slightly, their feelings were still the same, regarding many things. They continued to have no need for violence, although another sect disagrees.

It was graduation year for the academy. The students eagerly waited for their teacher to assign them teams. Everyone asked what team they thought they would be on, and interesting conversations sprang up.

Sasuke was looking bored, when Haru approached him. "Sasuke, which team do you think you'll be on?" He laid back and said, "I'm not sure. I don't think I'm the front lines kind of person. I like to work in the shadows."

She giggled, "Well, I hope we're going to be working together." She took her seat and he gave a faint smile. This got the attention of most of the students in the room, but they were ignored.

Inuzuka Kiba, another student in the class, asked, "Man, why does the Uchiha get all the girls?" He laughed, "Why don't you ask him?" He walked up as he was told, and asked, "Hey Sasuke, what do I have to do to get a girl like that?"

His smile disappeared and replied, "I don't know. Work?" He cupped his hands again as he glared at his classmate. The glare gave Kiba an uneasy feeling, so he backed off.

Just then, Iruka came in. He gave the usual speech he would at the end of the year, and then he started sorting the class into teams of three.

"Team 7 is, Yoshino Harusawa, Haruno Sakura, and Uchiha Sasuke. Your jounin sensei is Hatake Kakashi." Everyone was surprised at the revelation, but he filled them in. "Since we had an uneven number of boys and girls, we had to have this team. I apologize if it doesn't work out for you three."

Haru was glad to be with Sasuke, and she had made a new friend in Sakura.

Sakura thought, "_Sasuke__'__s__probably__in__love__with__Haru__right__now.__I__'__ll__never__get__any__time__alone__with__him.__"_

Sasuke had no thoughts on this matter.

He let everybody out for lunch after finishing the rest of the teams.

End

Please review.

Basically for this part, I just wanted to finish some of the before series start parts quickly, so I could get to the more interesting stuff I have planned. Also, because of the amount of characters I'm inputting into two characters, each, it's going to be confusing who they are acting as.

I was originally going to have the final flashback in this chapter, but I decided to focus a bit more on Sasuke and Konoha, next is Naruto and Uzu no Kagure. His legend will start in the next two years.


	5. Chapter 5

The Final Flash Part II Finale

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other crossovers I may put into this work of fiction.

Reviewer's Corner (From Ch. 4):

Wild-Dog84: Thanks for the support.

Ooblah: She's not evil. At least, not the text-book definition.

Please Read and Review

Start

Uzushiogakure (Hidden Village of the Whirling Tides)…

In the Hidden Village of the Whirling Tides aka Whirlpool, there is a tradition amongst the great clans to send their eldest child once at the age of 10 to start training to join the military force. The military cadets will receive rigorous training from the academy instructors. It is said that due to the nature of this training, there can only be 13 graduates from the academy every two years. The truth of the matter is, only six pass onto the true goal. The rest of the potential graduates are shipped off to 'another' place for further training.

At the age of 10, Uzumaki Kushina is prepared to send her son Naruto, to the academy to pass the test and join the army. "Survivability is an important asset to any heir. That is why you must join the academy and advance through the ranks in secret. I'll decide what happens to you when you graduate."

"I understand my goal. Infiltrate the academy and graduate as a 'commoner' without revealing my lineage, otherwise, the candidacy goes to another royal clan." He bowed, "I'll do my best to make your proud, kaa-san." He quickly left.

There was a knock in the room, and a secret door behind a painting of a royal family member opened. "That wasn't much of a speech, great leader." Momochi Zabuza, the only new member of the council gave his opinion.

She quickly brushed her hair back and sighed, "I'm not one for pep talks, Zabuza. I'm also not one of those leaders who are willing to plant influential agents into a large crowd while making a large speech; Like the current Mizukage."

He looked thoughtfully, "By the way…"

She immediately said, "No, we can't afford to rush into our demise. We have strong warriors, but they are few and far between. If we were to send them to conquer the Hidden Mist, our home forces would be susceptible to an attack by the Hidden Rain Village."

Zabuza slightly moped, but still said, "It was worth a shot… I still need another favor." Kushina went to doing paperwork, but said, "I'm listening."

He anxiously rubbed his head, "It's about a kid I'm taking care of." She quickly stopped working and started listening more intently. "I met him quite a few years ago in the Mist while the bloodline users were being persecuted. I taught him how to kill and other skills. I thought that would've been enough."

He took a hard breath, "Your brother saw my skill while I finished a job. That led to me coming here and meeting some wonderful people. All of this… has been like a wonderful carnival that never ends. I wanted to share some of this feeling with Haku." He looked up and saw her finishing her paperwork.

She spoke while finishing up her paperwork, "I'll see what I can do. Meanwhile, " she took some items out of her desk, "I want you to test the new trainees to see how they hold up." She spoke with a mad glint in her eye. He quickly bowed and left, scared out of his mind.

"_The new seven samurai may have problems with a real killer."_ She knocked on her desk and a secret compartment containing a small glass and a container of sake opened up. She poured herself a bit and quickly drained it.

Inside the castle…

A 10-year old Uzumaki Naruto prepared for the day as he woke up. He donned black skin-tight body armor and wore a red shroud over it with the swirl, the sign of Uzushiogakure. He also carried a small pack around his waist for storage scrolls, just in case.

He strolled along the halls of the castle in Uzushiogakure. It was his home and the place where he spent the most of his time, but he always felt something was missing. His mother was highly protective of him at a young age. "The outside world is filled with horrors waiting to take my little boy away from me," she would always say.

He was a curious boy, for he would want to go outside and see the sky, the great outer boundary. His attempts at going out any exit at all were foiled by secret seals placed to block him from exiting. They would zap his chakra to a level where he would unconsciously stay away from the exits. He eventually strayed from the idea of leaving.

His curiousness was never satiated, though. His uncle Kaito would always tell him of his youthful exploits in the world. However, these stories never sat well with his mother. His teacher Atsuro would also talk about the outside while lecturing.

"_I'm a bird in a cage of bricks and mortar. I may never be free. All I can do is hope to get stronger and break free." _

His wish came when he was eight. His mother finally broke the chains and opened the door, allowing him to experience the wonderful world firsthand. "Someone once said, if you love something, set it free. If it comes back to you, it's yours to keep."

Kaito took out a special outfit. "Naruto, this is for you. Think of it as a beginner's guide to flying. I wanted you to have it when you got older though." Naruto looked at his uncle with wide eyes at his present.

"I love this present from the bottom of my heart, but, I want to learn how with using my own power. Thanks for offering help though." Kaito barely bit his lip, "True Flight is nearly impossible for humans to master. Flight can only be made with the manipulation of energy, but chakra is quite different. You won't be able to fly without assistance."

Naruto looked at him with a hard eye, "You regaled me with stories of how you were able to fly through the sky. Were those all lies?"

He shook his head and smiled, "I've never lied to you and I don't intend to. I simply can't tell you how I use my technique. To learn, you'll have to enter a world I'm not sure you're completely ready for."

He crossed his arms, "I've trained hard all my life and you still treat me like a damn kid. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if I was never here!" He slightly gasped, but stayed true to what he said.

Kaito walked away. He made a final announcement, "I'm going to make a bet on your generation. If I'm wrong, we'll end up dead. Follow me." Naruto, confused from his announcement followed his lead.

While the two headed back to the outskirts of the village, it had quickly turned to night. "Nighttime, the time when the starry sky appears and spirits walk amongst the living in a haunting carnival or something like that. Strange things usually happen at night, especially around this village."

A guard admitted them in and he locked the gate, not allowing anyone to enter or leave. As they headed in, Naruto heard sounds of battle. His uncle quickly quieted him down. "_The battle isn't too far away, we should be able to help them out."_

There were few things he questioned in life; his uncle wasn't one of them. When they reached the scene, they saw a large masked man with a demonic mask. He had black hair and a tall muscular figure. He also had a bloody cleaver. His clothes were worn tightly, the standard Whirlpool village uniform.

On the opposite side were four kids, all roughly Naruto's age. They had different defining features, but it was clear that they were all swordsman. Each had a different sword style. Three were on the ground, knocked down by the demon's long cleaver. The only one left standing was a short pink haired girl with a short and thin build. She carried a similar cleaver with her adversary.

The two whispered on the sidelines, "_Should we help her?" _Kaito questioned himself inwardly and responded, "_Most of these kids are from royal clans; trained samurai clans. If we were to interfere in their fight, they would rather die than accept our help. We must wait until one of them falls. Only then, should we interfere." _He thought to himself again, "_I just hope this son of a bitch doesn't rough them up too hard."_ He looked at the other three and the thought disappeared.

For a young girl, she was able to hold herself quite well. It seemed as if she had natural inhuman strength. She lifted the cleaver like her opponent; flawlessly. The swings didn't slow her down, and her movements were magnificent.

As cleaver met cleaver, the two couldn't figure out who might win. "The girl is clearly the stronger of the two in a desperation battle, but he's more experienced. I haven't seen any jutsu yet, so they could both simply be samurai."

As if on cue, the masked man stepped back and made clones. Each held a similar cleaver, but there were some obvious differences. The group surrounded the girl and attacked from all sides.

She struck her cleaver in the ground and kicked off against the blade, propelling herself towards a clone with a jump kick. It was destroyed on impact.

"This kid is pretty good, but what clan is she from? I don't recognize that fighting style." While Kaito was confused, Naruto knew what she was doing. "Those unpolished moves, the raw power and fighting style… She's simply a genius fighter. She has no real style, but she grew up fighting for her life. She must be an orphan who got taken in by a previous village elder."

Kaito secretly agreed. Before the elder purging, it was not strange for one of the higher ups to adopt someone into their clan. Aside from the cleaver, it wasn't too strange to assume she was simply trained in one of Whirlpools many martial arts.

The fight continued with the pink haired girl charging like a wild animal towards a set of clones, breaking them with an axe kick each. While her back was turned, the demon-man charged with his sword full of killing intent. Before she was able to turn, he barely cut into her and fled from the scene.

She first fell to her knees before seeing the two of them appear from out of the corner of her eye.

With Naruto…

He looked around her body for any wounds, but there was only a shallow wound, slowly leaking blood. The other three were in a similar state, but blacked out as well.

"These kids look familiar, but I can't put my finger on it. You'll have to cart them off to the hospital." Before Naruto could protest, he vanished like the wind. "Ah, damn it!"

At the hospital…

He carted the four to a hospital as fast as possible like the wind. Luckily for him, the hospital was very close by.

He entered a hospital for the first time and saw a kindly nurse waiting for him. The nurse had long black hair and kind eyes. She looked up to see him carrying others and stood up welcoming him.

"These guys were harmed in a fight before I got them over here. They seem to have a few bruises and some big cuts. I didn't know what I should do, so I brought them over here."

She looked the over with a careful eye, "These cuts look like they were carefully made. Are you sure they were in a fight?" She asked in an accusatory tone.

He shrugged, "As far as I can see, it was a samurais' fight. I couldn't interfere precariously. The perpetrator just happened to leave as soon as he made that large cut over there." He pointed to the rather large cleaver wound on the girls' body.

"_This cleaver wound…" _She glazed over him with glassy eyes, "You watched their fight from a safe distance while they battled a masked man with a large cleaver? Are you insane?"

He said again, "Even if I was wrong, I don't think they would have accepted my help. The people of this village are very honorable. If I want to lead them, I have to honor all of their wishes, no matter what they may be." He said in a commanding tone.

She wasn't fazed and she slammed her hands against the table, "Look, I don't care about who the hell you think you are. What good is honor if you're dead? If they're dead, they can't be with their loved ones, and that's more important than some false concept." It seemed, as she was about to cry, talking about what was passionate to her.

Naruto held his hands out and sighed, "Miss, I don't want to argue with you. I just wanted these people to be healed. Whether I'm in the wrong or the right is up for them to decide. Just don't worry your pretty little head about it."

There was a silence before the girl awoke. She rubbed her eyes and saw the two in front of her. "Oh, you're awake. And you are…"

"Kururugi Ayame." She said with an unenthusiastic voice. "You were right, you know." The two looked at her. "Even if you had the right intentions, I wouldn't have accepted your help until I was unconscious. Thank you for honoring my wishes." She bowed lowly and Naruto rubbed the back of his head anxiously.

"You don't have to thank me, honestly. I just did what I was raised to do. It wasn't my fight and I'm not one to spit on rules and tradition." He looked towards the nurse, "Are you still mad at me?"

She said nothing and yelled for help. In minutes, more nurses went and helped the rest. Ayame declined the help, saying that it wasn't needed. However, she looked around her, "Did you carry my sword with you? I need it immediately."

"Sure." He took out a scroll and pressed a character, the sword unsealed itself. He handed it to Ayame and she thanked him before taking it back.

"Wait!" A cry rang through the lobby, causing Naruto to look back. It turned out to be Mizuki Mari, the head doctor. "Mari-sensei, is something wrong?"

She examined the rest of the injured and Ayame again. She said tiredly, "I wanted to see if everyone was in perfect condition. They can't go to school with those nasty looking bruises, can they?"

As the rest were taken care of, Ayame thanked the nurse and doctor and headed away. "Hey you!" The nurse called out Naruto. "I wanted to know your name!"

"It's Kururugi, Kururugi Naruto. I believe you are Haku, right? Zabuza-sensei told me of you." He bowed with his hand out, and left. "Kururugi Naruto? I think not." He shrugged. "I'll play your little game, Uzumaki Naruto-san." He then went to help the other nurses.

Outside…

As soon as Naruto headed outside, he saw Ayame waiting for him. She walked up to him, cleaver in hand. She looked at him straight in the eyes with her own wide eyes. She slowly backed away, "You… are Uzumaki Naruto?"

He nodded, "Yes, what of it?" He was confused at how she knew his name, but kept it at the back of his mind. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused, as if they were not intoned with the real world.

"Catch!" As she jumped away, she threw her cleaver. Not usually one to listen to a stranger, his gut told him to obey. He pulled out a forced scroll of sealing, activating a powerful wind from within the paper. The sword changed direction and crashed into the ground.

His face was flustered and red, "Were you trying to kill me!" He looked up and noticed she disappeared from view. When he touched the sword, it exploded into notes. The notes stated, "My uncle, Kururugi Genbu, sends his regards. He knows of your mission, and has offered his help on this manner. He wishes to meet face to face tomorrow. Kururugi Ayame "

He threw the message away once he imprinted it into his mind. Once it touched the ground, the message exploded in a flowery explosion. His eyes slightly widened at the effect, but he was left unimpressed.

The Castle…

The demon interloper slipped inside the castle at the dead of night. He activated a secret switch behind a painting and stepped into a secret room. Upon entering, he took his mask off and revealed himself to be Momochi Zabuza. He took a seat waiting for his employer.

Uzumaki Kushina walked into the room and handed Zabuza an envelope. He took the money out of the envelope. "Take this and hand it to that kid you have with you." She handed a small letter with the swirled stamp. He gave a silent nod. "I'll be counting on you for future missions."

She bit her thumb, hoping that the people she had Zabuza attack weren't mortally injured.

The next day…

Naruto woke up with a mission. He had to meet up early at the Kururugi House and be on time to the academy. He wasn't sure that he would make it, but damned if he wasn't going to try.

He sped out of his room with his usual attire and ran like hell towards the academy, which was close to where the Kururugi House was located.

The house was like a regular clan house, except much more compact and lacked a gate. He stepped towards the door made a loud knock. A servant opened the door allowed the boy into the living room, "Please wait a moment for the master, honored guest."

After a while of waiting, Kururugi Genbu entered the scene. He was an elderly man, going on roughly 70-years-old. He had a tough but frail build. He held a walking stick in his hand as he hobbled, assited by Ayame, still carrying her trademark cleaver.

He thanked Ayame as she stood there. "Uzumaki Naruto, or should I say, Kururugi Naruto, it is a pleasure to meet face to face." He offered a handshake.

Upon analyzing the man, he sensed no ill intent, but he must be on guard. He gave his hand, "Likewise. It is an honor to meet one as distinguished as you, Kururugi-sama… Why have you invited me over?"

He coughed a bit, "Right to the point, eh? I like that in the young people. To put it to you bluntly, I'm growing too old to take care of Ayame by myself. My relatives have either moved to other lands or have died off to various wars or missions. I adopted Ayame in hopes that she would secede me, but it's gone now."

"Although my clan has mostly disappeared, our information network is still intact. I have knowledge of the trial you must undergo. To that extent, I have arranged to have you adopted into the Kururugi clan, so you may still be eligible for your position, while my clan gains fame. What do you say, Naruto?"

"So… you basically want to adopt me into your clan so I can get through unknown to the public while I secretly ascend to the throne? And, when I ascend to the throne, I may throw your clan a bone or two?"

He chuckled, "The shrewd prince believes not the man in the shroud? Both of us will be gaining something, and losing nothing. It benefits both of us. Please consider my offer. Now please, run along. You must get to school. Nobuharu-kun is a rough teacher." The two were escorted out while Naruto mused about the offer.

"Before I leave, how would your clan benefit if my ascension trial is done secretly from the people?" Just before Naruto was forced out, he heard, "You'll see!"

As Ayame closed the door, "Please pardon Oto-sama. During the last few years, we've had political and family issues. In return, he may have gotten a little more eccentric. Todoh-san and I have tried to aid him, but it's been difficult."

Naruto waved his hands, "It's no trouble at all. I'm just wondering what he meant by that." He said, confused at the situation.

She shrugged, "Like I said, he's eccentric. I have no idea what he's thinking."

Back at the house…

"Kururugi-sama, they have been escorted off the premises." He nodded, but was called back before he could leave. "Todoh-san, don't you believe you should unsheathe that sword of yours?" The servant said nothing as he served the morning tea.

The ninja academy…

After a brisk walk to school, Naruto and Ayame barely made it before their teacher, an older, tanned man, walked in the classroom. He wore the standard uniform with a pair of long pants. His eyes showed years of experience on the field, as he scanned for all the faces in the room. His name was Nobuharu Gensai.

After scanning around, he said in a loud voice, "Welcome to the Academy! You may address me as Nobuharu-sensei." He made his speech as he walked around the room.

"You have trained in the confines of your family for most of your life, or at least I hope. Now, that you are set free in the cruel world, you have no one but yourself to blame should you fall, but do not fear. Your allies may be able to pull you out of that hole of despair."

"For these next two years, I will drill into your minds all that is necessary to become genin of the Whirlpool. You will learn the basics of all the necessary fields. At the end of these two years, we will form teams that are most compatible with each other. Pick and choose your friends wisely."

On cue, everyone started inching their heads around the room to get a glimpse of their potential allies.

In the corner of his eye, Naruto spied the nurse whom helped him the other day, Haku. In his other eye, he saw the three others that were attacked by the masked man. His eyes quickly focused back to his teacher.

He cleared his throat, "Today we will begin with…"

End

A/N: Just want to say, this is not a true cliffhanger. I just can't be bothered to write anymore. I'll basically cover what they learn in flashbacks as I progress through the story.

As the challenge states, Whirlpool is probably the most advanced so, the sealing scroll shouldn't be to odd. I made up a function though, to make it more defensive, rather than just something mundane like a backpack.

Anything else that's confusing, just review.


	6. Chapter 6

The First Day

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other crossovers I may put into this work of fiction.

Reviewer's Corner (From Ch. ):

Anon: Well, that's too bad I guess. It's just this is my first time writing this far, so I'm not too good at spreading exposition. I hope to do great justice to this idea.

Please Read and Review

Start

The Academy…

It had been a long few years for the young academy students, but they believed it the time of turmoil to be worth it. Today the lucky 5 candidates of this years' academy would join the ranks of the elite. A young boy wakes up to face his destiny. This would be Uzumaki-Kururugi Naruto's day.

An alarm rang in his room on the second floor of the Kururugi Estate. One Kururugi Naruto woke up in a daze, but quickly sprang out of bed as he noted the time. The day before, he and the other 12 candidates had passed the test required, so they were given orders to come. If they decided to skip the meeting, they would have to come back the next year.

He ran down the stairs as fast as he could as he put on a simple black shirt and blue jeans. He dashed into the kitchen and grabbed a piece of dry toast and stuck it into his mouth before hurrying out the door. Ayame simply looked up from her seat at the table. "_Baka…" _She then started to walk at her own pace.

Naruto ran towards the academy as fast as he could, while he passed two of his classmates. "Where's Naruto-kun going in such a rush?" His friend shrugged.

He passed by many people who waved or greeted him while he returned the gestures. He passed through all obstacles with style as he rushed to the school. When he reached the entrance, he said, "Meh…" as he checked the time on his watch. "Still not fast enough."

He walked inside his classroom, where on the way he saw some of his teachers walking by. He greeted them politely as he made his way to the classroom. Inside there was no one there, so he started to nap.

An hour later…

A rap to his head woke Naruto up. He looked up to the perpetrator of the offense. It was Ayame, who donned a simple black shirt and pink skirt. "What are you doing, Naru-baka?"

He sighed before yawning, "You're annoying me, go away." He looked away, only to find Haku there. "What are you doing here? I thought this was graduates only?"

Over the last few years, he had gotten to know Haku better. He thought of him as an annoying older brother. "Zabuza-sensei arranged for me to be here. This graduation is only a formality." Naruto simply rolled his eyes as the rest of the graduating class rolled in, along with Nobuharu Gensai, their teacher for the last three years.

He took the log book from out of the table before clearing his throat. "Everyone please stand when I call your name.

"Haku." The feminine-looking boy stood up and was told to sit down. "Takahashi Toyoko." A dark-skinned black haired girl stood up. She wore a white body suit and skin-tight pants.

"Kururugi Ayame." Naruto's 'sister' stood as she was called out. "Mayuzumi Hikaru." A blond haired girl stood up. She was a bit taller than the rest of them. She had on a pink top and blue shorts.

"Masuno Seiji." A red head boy stood up. He had a blue shirt and white shorts. "Matsui Kunie." The final girl stood up and nodded. She had waist length blond hair and white shirt with blue shorts. "Kururugi Naruto." Naruto, a bit surprised his name was called last, stood up without a hint of surprise on his face.

After calling the rather short attendance, Gensai did the speech he did for the last 10 years: A spiel about the future of the Village Hidden in the Whirling Tides. Most of them listened, but Naruto, having listened to the sneak preview spiel once the other day when he overheard Gensai speaking with Genbu managed to tune his voice out as he hummed a tune.

After that was done with, he spoke out. "You have all done spectacularly for these past 2 years. The training has no doubt caught you up on the current situations of this land. We all need to know what needs to be done to get back to a respectable standing." At that point, the door was opened. In stepped Momochi Zabuza.

A few of the newly graduating genin were surprised at the appearance of the missing-nin, but quickly noted it as none of their concern. He took out a small notebook, scanned around the class and sat down in an empty seat. "As a few of you may know, this is Momochi Zabuza, an ex nukenin from Kirigakure. Over the last past few years, he has been assimilated into our ranks and welcomed as an honorable comrade and as a jonin-sensei for one of the two genin teams."

Zabuza stood up and called out the candidates, "My team is Kururugi Naruto, Kururugi Ayame, and Haku. Please meet me as quick as you can." He vanished from view as the three walked outside to meet their teacher.

The meeting spot…

"You're all late. If I wasn't under contract, I would probably kill you all." He quickly motioned them all to a bench. "Now, while I'm all for introductions, let's just keep this short. I'm sure we all know each other and I'll just need a small list of your talents, likes, dislikes and dreams."

"Naruto, you go first." He started, "Well, since all of you already know me, I like being with my friends and family. My dislikes are jerks and dishonest people, and my dream is to become a great ninja." He smiled and leaned backwards, nearly falling over.

Haku went next, " Well, I like being with Zabuza, my special person. I also dislike jerks and liars. I suppose my dream is to stay with Zabuza all my life."

Zabuza nodded towards Ayame and she started quickly. "I don't like or dislike anything. My dreams are my own business." Naruto sighed, but was quickly hit in the stomach, now currently catching his breath.

Zabuza clapped, "Well, since 'intros' are done, we'll begin. There will be no need to test your teamwork as that is what the academy is supposed to be for. I want you all to wake up bright and early at this spot. We'll assign roles at that point. Any questions?"

Naruto spoke out, "Nobuharu-sensei already assigned each of us a role during our school days, but I guess those are a moot point, aren't they?"

Zabuza look at him thoughtfully, "We've discussed this a fair bit and decided that I can come up with new roles for you if I want. The only one that needs to change is you, Naruto. Haku was assigned as an assassin/medic, while Ayame was strictly a combatant. Naruto, due to your unusual state, will be assassin/defender."

They all looked pleased with their roles, except for Naruto, who decided to accept it because of his history in the academy. He became deep in thought.

They would meet the at that point the next day. They quickly left, leaving the blond deep in thought.

A long time before, but not really (Konoha)…

At approximately the same time, the Konoha genin were meeting with their new teachers. The others had already gotten to meet their teachers with the exception of one team, team 7 aka Kakashi.

Sakura walked around the room, slightly peeved, "Where is that guy? We've been waiting for an hour. Who the hell does he think he is?" She turned around and saw the two playing a game. "What are you doing?"

Since Sasuke appeared to be in deep thought at what to do in his game, Haru answered. "We're just playing Shogi. I'm not very good at the game, but I've been getting better with his help. Although I still lose every game he's played with me, except one…" She smiles as Sasuke finally makes a move.

A few minutes later, the sole male of the team (except Kakashi) spoke. "I've seen Kakashi before around the compound area speaking with my uncle and brother. He seems odd." He won a move later, "He's the perfect guy to teach us." He laid down, falling back in the process, but made no attempts to try to looks less foolish.

The two girls smirked at him.

A moment later, the man who they assumed to be Kakashi arrived. "Hello? So you guys are my team?" After a brief moment of silence, "My first impression of you guys is… you're all alright. Let's go." He disappeared in a spiral of leaves, but they had all seen the trick at least once or another.

The meeting place…

They all arrived quickly and saw the man sitting down. "Alright, we'll do introductions. So, just say your likes, dislikes and dreams." When he saw no one willing to start, he did. "Alright, so I'm Kakashi. I have many hobbies, and I'm not much of a dreamer. C'mon, this is a vital experience." They all shared their info with him.

He had his hand to his mask, "Alright, tomorrow we'll meet at training area #10 for your exam." He vanished, leaving the group to do their thing till tomorrow. They left the academy together.

As they walked towards the Uchiha compound, they saw Gin and Itachi walking together. Haru ran towards her adopted father. "Gin!" He was surprised but hugged her all the same. "What took so long? Let me guess, you got Kaskashi." They all sighed, and the two laughed, remembering their first times meeting the white haired man.

"You'll get used to his antics eventually." Itachi looked at Gin and they smiled, while Gin grabbed Sakuras hand, as she lived close to where he and Haru shared a building with Aya. They all waved good-bye.

Sasuke looked at Itachi wearily, "What were you talking about, brother?" Itachi patted his brothers shoulder, "Nothing that should concern you, younger brother. Now, let's get home. Itsuko is getting worried about you." Itachi pulled onto Sasuke's cloak and nearly strangled him, but he got out of it okay.

They would all prepare for the next days exam.

End

This is just sort of a bridge to future things. Now, I've finally finished establishing the beginning and will move onto canon events, with my own interpretations, based on the differences. Hopefully I don't procrastinate.


	7. Chapter 7

Training, Exams, and Fighting, oh my!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other crossovers I may put into this work of fiction.

Reviewer's Corner (From Ch. 6 ):

Hollyshortfowl: I'd rather not squikify(sp) my story. So, no incest, as it's part of the challenge. I'll make a list of the women that are fine. Also don't want this to be Oedipus-y

Ayame: I'm not sure. Maybe

Kurenai: Eh, no.

Anko: Not sure

Yugao: Eh, no

Tayuya: Possibly

Kin: ^

Mei: Not sure

Samui: Eh, no

Yugito: Not sure

Tsunami: Eh, no

Mabui: Nah

Fu: Possibly

Koyuki: Not sure

Shizuka: No idea

Shizune: Eh, no

Tsunade: No way!

Hana: Not sure

Fem Kyuubi: Kyuubi will not have a gender, if it is in at all

Kushina: No way!

Ooblah: She'll not be evil, but she'll have questionable motives. Naruto may turn on her in Part II/Shippuden, if I ever get there.

Please Read and Review

Start

Two groups sharing nothing except for a line of convenience according to an eccentric being, awoke on the day of their final exam. They quickly prepared themselves for their test and took what they might need.

Both groups met a bit earlier than their appointed times to discuss strategy and what they may or may not encounter.

Whirlpool…

Their meeting place was in a small clearing near the forest in the outskirts of the village. "So, what's the plan?" Naruto had a blade of grass in his mouth as he was laid back in the branch of a particularly strong tree.

Ayame drew a small diagram of the clearing. She quickly made many methods of attack, erasing the old one as if she was not pleased. After a few minutes of deliberation with Haku, they came up with a plan. "Well, here's a skeleton, so take a look."

Naruto took a look at the drawing, but was confused instantly. "What's this crap?" Haku sighed and Ayame whacked the top of his head. "Zabuza specializes in silent-killing. It's safe to say that he'll start this test without telling us. It's the Whirlpool way, I suppose."

Ayame spoke softly as her eyes narrowed, "In addition to his mist, he'll be able to hide behind the trees. We shouldn't expect to know where he is 90% of the time. However, this may put us at an advantage."

Naruto looked inquisitively as Haku stated grimly, "Due to the nature of this exam, he probably wouldn't kill us. Than again, this is Zabuza we're dealing with. We'll have to be extra careful." They all nodded.

Naruto clapped his hands, "Well, let's begin." He kicked a nearby tree and watched a shadow pop out. "How long have you been watching us plan, Masked Man?" The shadow with the mask seemed to make an invisible smirk.

He quickly charged towards Ayame, intent on finishing their fight from a month ago.

Haku charged in, intending to do some damage, but was pulled away. "What are you doing, don't you want to help your family?"

Naruto looked at him gravely, "Of course, but she should have some revenge first. He nearly massacred her classmates. I have an inkling of why he's back, but I'm still not sure."

The man's cleaver was about to lop her head off, but he barely missed as Ayame deftly jumped over him. She threw a few shuriken at her target, which bounced harmlessly off his armor. He pulled a thin blade out and tried to impale her with it, missing again.

Haku nearly charged in, "Damn, a wakizashi. He must be serious." Naruto considered the situation, but never said noted the oddity of a serious samurai with a large zanbato with a hunk of iron as a blade.

As the blade was inserted into a tree, he swung his weapon in an upward crescent. The tree landed a fair distance away. She jumped forward off another tree and started her own attack. It was fairly surprising that such a petite body could lift a comparatively large weapon, but it happened. Each hit was expertly blocked with great vigor.

He made a horizontal cut as she stuck her sword to her side. The blades clanged against each other as they both lost their balance. Ayame took the opportunity to step forward and gave a hard right hook. She quickly realized her folly.

She yelled out loudly, louder than she might have yelled in a regular situation. "What the fuck was that?" A gruff laugh escaped his lips, "Little girl, do you not understand the gravity of this situation? You believe that you can challenge me, a sword master?" He quickly made his point by cutting the opposing blade in half.

He threw the handle towards her as he inspected the blade. "What the shit is this piece of crap?" He threw the now useless blade towards her, "I was wondering if it was your great skill or this sword that helped you last so long. It seemed that it was in fact, your great skill. This piece of crap couldn't even cut butter in it's previous state." He sighed before saying, "It relieves me that these days, great swordsmen are still being born. But alas, it'll never be." He looked to his side as he crashed into a tree.

The two looked as Naruto was in the middle. "That's enough out of you, now. You're not in the right place to bad-mouth my sister. That's my job." He pointed to him as Haku tossed him away. "What the hell was that? Are you trying to look cool? You idiot!"

As the two bickered, Ayame looked to her foe. From a far close-up examination, it seemed that the 'man' was in fact a clone, noticing that the area was wet and there was no substance to the body. She motioned for the two to the scene.

Naruto slumped, "This was a water clone? Well, now that you mention it, that kick did feel a little different from usual." Haku had other thoughts, "This is obviously Zabuza's clone. There's no way he would give Kubikiri Houcho to anyone else."

They all took a look at his famous sword, one of the swords of the former Seven Swordsman of Mist. "I've heard that when he cuts you, your blood is given to the sword and that it'll reform no matter how damaged it is."

They gasped in wonder, "It's undefeatable. No matter how many times it's destroyed, it can reform."

A voice rang out, "Not unless you can destroy the handle." They were a bit startled as they heard Zabuza. "The special properties are stored in the hilt area. If that's destroyed, it won't reform no matter how you cut someone." He was given back his sword.

Naruto asked, "Well?" Zabuza gave him an inquisitive look, "Well what?" They discussed their attack by the masked man from a month ago. He laughed, "Oh yeah, that was me. I was asked by Lady Kushina to test the new blood, see if the prince should enter." As he nearly finished, he felt a bit like an idiot. Looks were given his way for completely different reasons.

Naruto, after recovering from the small ordeal, questioned him about the state of the exam. "Oh, that. Well, you all passed." They quickly discussed what the next step would be, in which they would go with the Gensai team to register as official genin.

Back at the Village…

After the short trek from the clearing, they headed to the Tower, the government building of the Village. Once through the double doors, the four saw the Gensai team.

"Well, well, well, look who it is?" A boy from their previous class, who had a slight rivalry with Naruto, 'introduced' himself. "Hello, Seiji." Naruto spoke rigidly to his former classmate. "What took you so long? You have trouble with the test?" He nearly fell over as a girl pulled him backwards.

"Stop this nonsense, Seiji." She turned to Naruto and bowed, "I apologize for his behavior, Naruto." Naruto waved his hands symmetrically, "No need, Hikaru. I'm just glad you're able to take his arrogance in." He stated rather snidely.

Seiji simply shrugged as the groups started walking towards registration.

They headed up stairs to the registration desk and saw a man with a white hat and a blue shirt. "Hello, everyone. I'll make sure to make this process as quick and painless as possible." He put on a pair of glasses, "Shall we get started than?"

A door closed as the students saw their instructors had left the room. They anxiously awaited their horrendous trial. He reached under his desk and revealed… a stack of papers. "Please take your time and fill these forms out." Everyone nearly fell over from the lack of suspense.

After a few minutes and the sound of shuffling paper, "I believe that's that." As they left the door, "Naruto and Ayame, may I see you for a second?" The two stayed behind as Haku turned, but was told by Naruto, "Don't worry. I'm sure it's nothing."

Atsuro put his hands together, "Ayame, I'm sure that you're aware of Narutos' particular situation." She simply nodded as he turned his head, "Yes, well, I would like to congratulate him on graduating." He pressed a button and it revealed confetti from the roof, with a single balloon. "Sorry, we're low on budget at this time, and couldn't afford anything to extravagant."

He re-focused on his real objective, "Now Naruto, you have a choice. Either stay as you are now, or come back to the palace and begin your true training." He stated cryptically, "I hope you'll have your response by the end of the day. You're free to leave."

Naruto and Ayame left the building, as she noticed that Naruto looked slightly crestfallen. "What will you do?" Haku ran towards them cheerfully. "Hey, what was that meeting about?"

Naruto looked up sheepishly, "I don't know what I'll do." He walked away from the Tower and started to think about his life. Haku motioned to help him, but Ayame held him back. She sighed, "We should give him some space for a bit. That meeting might have hit him hard." Haku looked quizzically, but didn't make a fuss.

Konoha Outskirts (Training Grounds 7)…

In an area near the village, three friends met to strategize. Although against rules, they all brought food anyways. "Ok, why did we bring food when Kakashi-sensei we're not supposed to eat."

Sasuke took a bite of his food, "Just call it a hunch. I've heard from Itachi, Gin, and a bunch of others that he's always tardy for some reason. When I've asked them, they always say that I should just ask if I have the chance." He took a swig of water. "But I don't feel like it."

Haru asked nicely, "Why not ask? It sounds like something's troubling him."

"That's exactly why. A mans' troubles are his own. I don't want to get involved in this." He smirked, "Anyways, let's move on."

They shared food and discussed ideas for the test. "From what I heard about Kakashi through Gin-san, he's had a rough until he met his teacher. Long story short, he's entirely dedicated to teamwork and praises comrades amongst anything else. This is obviously a test based on team work." She finished rather sadly.

Sakura asked quizzically, "How do you guys know so much?" The two shared a smile, noticed by the girl. "You haven't heard? Gin is a bar tender, and Itachi and my uncle are pretty highly regarded in the village. When they're in a divulging mood, they'll usually hand out some interesting stuff."

She was more confused, "How does a bar tender know so much?" Haru scratched her head, "Actually, I'm not so sure. It might have something to do with the fact that alcohol stupefies people and loosens their lips." She shrugged as the two laughed.

For the next few hours, the three spent their time doing light exercises and training. "It would behoove you to increase your chakra levels. From what little I know of your skills, you get the basics, but you can't do them too much." Sakura nodded.

Sasuke than turned to Haru, "It'll be better if you can get some more offensive techniques and a style." She also nodded, "Thanks for the advice. What will you do?"

Sasuke put his hands in his sleeves, "I don't know. We'll have to cover each other's weaknesses. I think my only weakness is that I'm too good." He smirked as he was hit on the back of his head, "Ow, what was that for?" He stated flatly.

A tick emerged on Harus' brow, "Don't be an arrogant stuck-up prick, Sasuke." She put him into a stranglehold, "You may be skilled, but you're not physically strong."

"Ha, right." He easily escaped as she seemed to stumble backwards, "You still have a lot to learn." Just as she nearly struck again, her hand was caught by anothers'. "Yo."

The three were genuinely surprised by his appearance, according to the rumors, "Your pretty early, Kakashi-sensei." Kakashi pouted listlessly, "You guys are no fun. So, you guys think you figured out the test already?"

Sakura stood up, "I think we have a pretty good grasp of the situation now." She looked to her friends and smiled, "We're ready for your big test." They too nodded. After a few minutes of thinking, he shouted, "You pass!"

Everyone was slightly startled by the revelation, but cheered nonetheless. He raised a finger, "Well than, since we're finished here, you're free to take the rest of the day off and do whatever you want. We'll start doing missions tomorrow." Sakura and Haru cheered as Kakashi vanished.

The girls noticed Sasuke sigh, "What are you bummed out about? We're real ninja starting today." He scratched his head, "You'll see tomorrow, I suppose." The two, clueless of what he meant, followed after him.

"So, what do you guys want to do?" Haru stopped, "Gin said to come home after I passed the test and tell him and Aya about it. I've got to get going. I'll see you guys later." She ran away as the two waved.

"I've got to go tell my family the 'big' news. They'll be thrilled to hear I'll be starting missions tomorrow. Good-bye Sasuke." He nodded, "Good-bye, Sakura." She nodded before leaving.

"_Now what can I do?" _He walked towards the compound, which was now simply a large manor, as most of it was torn away for villagers. It irritated him that he had to share his land with the 'common' people, but he learned to accept it, once he accepted that his family wasn't all powerful anymore.

Upon walking into the door, he was greeted by his brother. "Good day, Sasuke. Did you pass your test?" He nodded and headed away. Itachi shouted to the other room,"What are you going to do now?"

He pocketed his hands, "I don't know." A girl walked from the upper floor. "Sasuke! You're home!" She had a blue shirt with the Uchiha fan design and white shorts. Sasuke ruffled her short hair, "Hey, I'm back, Itsuko. How was your day?"

She smiled, "It was great. I had fun with my friends today." She went to Itachi, who also ruffled her hair, "I'm glad that you're having fun." She left for another room, "She's a little fireball, isn't she?"

Itachi smiled, "Sometimes I think she's the only light in our lives since the rest of the clan was spirited away. I still feel her sometimes, it's pretty saddening." Sasuke stood up and sighed, "Well, whatever I can do, I'll try to live a happy life, and share it with her and everyone."

They grabbed each other hands and nodded, "Let's do all we can." The two smiled.

Back at Village of Whirling Tides…

Naruto was told to meet back at the Tower to declare his decision with Atsuro.

He quickly ascended the building to meet his destiny. Upon opening the door, he saw his mother and uncle, along with Atsuro, Genbu and another man. "Hey kid, it's been a while." Naruto nodded politely as he headed for the two of his family, "It has been a while, uncle, mother. I've missed speaking with you."

Kushina hugged her son, "You can't understand how long I wanted to be with you, but traditions are set in stone. Nevertheless, I've been able to see how you've improved from afar into a respectable young man." Naruto liked that he was doing so well in her eyes.

This time, Genbu cleared his throat, "You've grown up into a smart, cheerful, and sometimes arrogant young man. You're a strong and resilient one, Naruto. I'm glad that I was entrusted with you." The two shook hands, as a sign of respect. "I liked the time I spent over at your place, grandfather." He blushed slightly.

Atsuro, not moving from his seat, stated, "Your progress has been tremendous. You seem to have passed all the tests with flying colors. Well done, Naruto." He went to shake hands with his former instructor, "It was thanks to your preparations, Atsuro-sensei. I hope to learn more from you in the future." They bowed towards each other.

Naruto looked towards his uncle Kaito, "You want me to say something?" He looked upwards thoughtfully, "Well, you've definitely gotten better at everything. But there's still one thing you haven't shown me yet." As Naruto was about to inquire, "If you have to ask, it'll be for nothing. Figure it out yourself if you want my approval." The unknown man hit him on the back of his head. "There's no time for that, asshat."

The man wore a simple black suit along with sun glasses, "We haven't formally met, prince. Please, call me Yamaki." The two tried to shake hands but Kaito tried to impale him. He ended up dodging the blow, "Looks like you're in need of a refresher course." As he got into a fighting position, the two were both hit.

Kushina looked towards them both critically, "But sis, he's being an asshole, and he called me asshat." She didn't stop her unrelenting torrent of annoyance, "This isn't the time for that. Discuss your anger amongst yourselves later." She turned her attention to his nephew. "Well, what is your decision, Naruto? Will you begin your true inheritance training or stay as you are?"

He looked to the ceiling, "I feel that both roads will eventually lead me to somewhere I might not want to be. It's just too boring to be super strong and have everything essentially handed to you. On the other hand, I don't want to be ordinary. I want to try and balance my life; have tremendous responsibility, yet feel like my accomplishments mean something. That and I want to be different."

They all seemed to smile, some more than others. "That's a pretty good philosophy… So, what's your decision?" Naruto smiled widely, "I'll choose the middle road of course." He raised his thumb, grinning like an idiot.

The temperature seemed to drop as most of them seemed to be confused by the decision. "Do I need to explain? I'll get stronger so I can take on future responsibilities if need be as Uzumaki Naruto, but I won't give up my personal life as Kururugi Naruto, do you guys understand?"

Yamaki laughed, "I like your gumption, boy. Well, if that's your decision, I'll help you every step of the way." After everyone recovered from the shock, they clapped for him, giving some encouraging advice.

Kaito give him a thumbs-up, "You'd better follow through with your decision like a man, Naruto, or you'll regret it." They clashed heads, "I'll show you, old man. I'll be the best ever."

End

Well, I guess that's that. Don't know how long until I'll update, but hopefully I don't procrastinate too much. I might make a new story soon, but I don't know.

Anyways, this is more transitioning and I really didn't care for the tests, as teamwork is basically all Kakashi required, but this is getting rather long.


	8. Chapter 8

Machinations of a Divine Being: First Missions

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other crossovers I may put into this work of fiction.

Reviewer's Corner (From Ch. 7):

13: I… don't know what to make of this. I'm just not interested in incest. Kyuubi isn't technically a person anyways.

What: 1) I don't know about that. 2) No

Meech Macko: 1) I don't know if I'm writing what your reading. 2) How so? 3) Exactly. What is evil? What is good? I don't know why a woman would fall for an evil person.

4) Thank you

Please Read and Review

Start

The Tower – Meeting Room…

After making his decision, Naruto was invited to return to the palace. He accepted the condition as long as long as he could still remain as Kururugi Naruto. Atsuro spoke, "We'll see what we can do. You will have to stay at the palace for tonight until we can arrange for living conditions… unless Genbu still wishes to keep you."

Naruto waved his hands, "Please don't mind me. I've saved up enough so that I can live on my own." After a few seconds, "Well, if that's all, I'll leave now. I'm sure you all have lots to talk about." He hurried out of there, as he could tell the mood. Most of them followed after, except for Kushina and Atsuro.

He stood up and fidgeted with his glasses, "He's growing up to be a right young man, isn't he?"

Kushina smiled and nodded, "He has, hasn't he?" She pressed a button on the bottom of the desk, in a secret compartment. Through a series of semi-complicated machinery, a miniature portal appeared out of the floor tiles. A light appeared from the portal. A voice soon sounded, "Hello. You're rather early."

A dark area…

In an area, nearly devoid of life, a man peers into a portal. A voice calls back, "It's been a while." The man seemed to smile, but it was difficult to say. "A while indeed. Where are we now?"

She silently laughed and seemed to be in her own world, Atsuro responded, "We should be in phase two. Our first squads are ready to go." He smiled slyly. He turned to Atsuro, "Excuse me, but I was speaking with Kushi-chan."

Atsuro continued smiling, "She seems a little distracted for the moment, so I'm afraid we'll have to finish discussing this on our own." He looked to Kushina, who was still slightly dazed, "Our people are ready as long as you're willing to continue." He pocketed his hands.

"But of course." He quickly undid the portal. Kushina seemed to escape from her stupor, "It's over?" She yawned, "How did it go?"

Atsuro smiled, "It was short, quick, to the point, and slightly confusing. Just the way I like it." They both shared a laugh, "Are you sure you can trust him?"

She put her palm to her face, "We've worked together for the last five years. I have no choice unless there's a better solution." She shrugged, "But it's not like he untrustworthy, I just believe that he thinks that destruction will be a means to an end."

Atsuro smiles, "Well, we're going to hell, let's enjoy life while we're at it." The door opened and it showed Shoji. "What are you two laughing about?"

Kushina responded, "Our insane plan is actually coming into fruition. So… what can I do for you?" Shoji scanned through her documents, "It seems that the Shomonkai are acting up again."

While Kushina seemed to grit her teeth at the word, Atsuro said, "Ah, those guys. They're not too much of a problem." Shoji nodded and looked again, "Well, we're having some minor technicalities with the first squads, but other than that…" She quickly left. Atsuro followed closely behind her, leaving Kushina alone in the room.

"_What can I do now?"_

The Palace – With Naruto…

After his conversation, Naruto had taken his stuff from Genbu's manor, with the help of palace attendees and his uncle. During that time, he had explained some of the situation with Haku and Ayame, although they knew that he was a prince.

They continued to speak at the palace, "Oh yeah, Zabuza told me. He's not into secrecy." He chuckled, "I just hope I can train with you guys." Ayame silently nodded, not knowing what she could get into.

At that point, Yamaki had overheard their conversation. "Ah, Haku and Kururugi Ayame, it's wonderful to see you. Please, call me Yamaki." He shook their hands, "I recognized you from your files. They're very interesting."

Ayame looked him up and down, "Are you part of Narutos' new training regime, Yamaki-san?" He scratched his head, "Not explicitly, but yes."

Haku asked, "Will we be training with the other squads' or only Gensai-senseis' squad?" He seemed to be wondering, "Due to the nature of your heritage, you will be training with Gensais' squad. You are all familiar with each other, and it would be prudent to not have other genin join in at the time. They seem to be not on par with your skills." He waited a few seconds, "Will that be all?" He moved on to another section.

Ayame finally asked, having inspected the man, "Are you sure it's good to train under him? He seems pretty shady." Naruto rubbed the back of his head, "I've seen a lot of shady people come see my mom when I was younger. It was just a feeling, but I've never seen not to distrust my mothers' judgement. I think we should do this. It'll benefit us in the long haul."

Ayame seemed slightly worried but was relieved by Haku, "If you trust him, I guess its' okay. We're friends, and friends should believe each other." After a bit of consideration, she agreed with Haku.

Naruto smiled, "Than I guess we'll start training tomorrow. Come on, let's enjoy the rest of the day." They quickly cheered and ran with Naruto.

Another area in the palace…

Kaito was speaking with Genbu. "You've had Naruto for a few years. What's your opinion on how he developed?" He was curious, as he hadn't been with his nephew for the last three two years.

Genbu had to consider his words, "To cut to the chase, he's a free spirit. He's quite intelligent, but he makes idiotic moves sometimes and got in trouble on occasion because he doesn't have a filter on his mouth. I suppose Gensai might feel it to be a bit endearing, but it's not up to me to say. Why do you ask?"

He put his hands to his head, "I feel like he may have been channeling a bit of both his parents." He smiled slyly, "I just feel a bit jealous as I don't seem to be having too much of an effect."

Genbu was about to make a remark, but decided against it. Kaito saw the look on his face, "I'm afraid I can't tell you who his father is. That would be against the rules." Ever since a spy had been found, apprehended, and taken back to his master, security had to be tense.

It was easy for some people, but others seemed to have a harder time. "What can we do about it? It seems that spies are more common than ever before. We found two spies within the last month. Thankfully, we had removed them before they learned of anything important." The two men laughed.

Konoha – Uchiha Household…

Sasuke was called by his sister, Itsuko, towards their uncles room, who was working. After thanking her, he walked in and knelt on the floor. "Is anything bothering you, uncle? Itsuko-chan said it was urgent." He was slightly worried.

Keisuke looked up from his work, "It's nothing, I just feel some stress piling up. Please, worry about yourself." After a moment of silence, "I understand that you've passed?" Seeing Sasuke nod, he answered, "Why that's wonderful! We should have a little celebration."

Sasuke seemed to blush, "It's nothing. Please don't go out of your way for me." Keisuke waved his hand, "You say that with a straight face, but your heart says different. It's important to get recognition for a job well done once in a while. If it doesn't happen, you'll start looking for it in your own way and well… that's pretty self-explanatory, isn't it?"

Sasuke gave in, as his uncle wouldn't be the one to back down from pointless arguments. "Alright, where should we go?" Sasuke was given a flier, 'Gins': A great place for celebration!' _"Gee, I wonder where we're going?"_

Keisuke stood up, "I've already made reservations there. It's a pretty big place and it has a large room for such occasions. Plus, I have to meet with Gin as well. You'll also have to speak with him as well." Sasuke was confused, but agreed nonetheless.

As Keisuke put on his white jacket, "Oh, and tell your friends to come along with their parents. I'm sure they have nothing planned as well."

So, in a matter of a few minutes, the Uchiha family met with the Harunos' at Gins' for a drink (and a party). Once inside, they met with Aya, who invited them to the private room, with Haru already there.

"We were ecstatic when we heard that Sakura had graduated with the Genin of the Year. She seemed so happy when she told the news!" Her mother seemed to be on cloud nine, which was also embarrassing Sakura.

"Haru is also very happy, as she'll be working so closely with her best friends. She talks about the two all the time." Aya also seemed very happy, already knowing of their history. In the end, everyone left.

After the first hour, Itachi and Keisuke rose from their chairs. "Please excuse us, but we have a meeting to attend. It was wonderful meeting the two of you." He shook their hands gratefully.

Since the three were sitting closely, they whispered, "What do you think they're talking about?" Sasuke thought about it, "Well, since uncle is there, it must be pretty serious. Although I don't know why Itachi is there. He doesn't seem to be doing very much these days. Aside from the training, he hasn't been out of the house too much."

Sakura thought up a possible reason, but Haru spoke first, "It might be the deal you and Gin from a few years ago. Do you remember it, Sasuke?"

He nodded, "Of course I remember, you big dope." He said it affectionately. Sakura saw the two and her mouth puffed up, but changed her thinking. "_These two were friends long before I met them. I don't have a chance."_

Sasuke noticed the sadness from Sakura, but said nothing. He instead, put an arm around her, attempting to comfort her. She felt flustered, but made no movements. Haru silently smiled from a distance.

He noticed again, but he sighed inwardly. "_It's damn difficult to play a crowd."_ He couldn't make everyone happy, so he could only do the next best thing: Help his friends out as best he could.

In another room…

The night was pretty quiet compared to other nights, where the night would be filled with rowdy drunks, only to be kicked out by the demon of destruction in a bartender suit.

Gin was in the room first, greeted by both of his friends, Itachi and Keisuke. "How's the night? Enjoy your food, drinks, and party?"

The two smiled, but Itachis' was smaller than Keisukes', "It was pretty fun, but you aren't expecting me to pay for this, are you? Money has been tight for the last month, and…" He was nearly punched by Gin, "You don't have to be such a stuck-up; I kid."

As they sat down, Itachi started, "What did you want us to talk about, Eiji?" He asked, chuckling. It was a well-known fact that he wasn't too fond of his birth name, but he didn't mind if it was brought up too much.

After a huge sigh, he said, "Alright, that's two. One more, and your out of here." He brought two glasses out and poured some wine in all three, as his was already placed there. "Let's talk about Haru and Aya."

After taking their respective sips, "Is it that time already?" Gin nodded, sadly. "But I thought you were going to get married?" He lowered his head, and put his hands on his knees. He seemed to start to tear up.

He looked up, a slight weary look on his face and tears, "I had to face the music sooner or later. She was a withdrawn girl from the first day I met her. She would keep these little secrets, but I was fine with it. When we got together, words couldn't describe. It was also pretty amazing when we hooked up, but… that's another story." He seemed to laugh at his 'joke' (but I digress).

As he cleared his throat and wiped his tears, "I've gotta call in the promise. Her condition is worsening, and the only thing to do is to have you guys take her and Haru in. Meanwhile, I've got to leave." He sat there, awaiting an answer.

Keisuke spoke, aware of the situation, "But surely this can't be. Although you're not officially a ninja, you must report to Hokage-sama." As if he took the words out of his mouth, he was presented with a note. "This should give you guys some indication of what I'm allowed to do now. I went over a few days ago and gave him most of the details."

The two peered at the note, verifying that it indeed had the Hokages' stamp of approval. "I hope you know what you're doing." Gin nodded, "Of course." They decided to end the meeting early, as there was nothing else to gain.

At that point, Sasuke was called in from the main room, accompanied by Haru and Sakura. He and Gin shook hands, possibly for the last time, "It's time to call that deal in, young man."

Sasuke looked to Haru, and gave a half-smile, "Sure, old man, I'll take it." Gin smiled, although obviously peeved by that old man comment. He grit his teeth and shook Sasukes' hand. Sasuke smiled mischievously as well.

Itachi and Keisuke sensed the tention between the two and split them up, "Alright now, that's enough shaking hands." Gin stroked his hair back slightly and stated, "Well, I'm counting on you, boy. I hope you can uphold your promise." He left the room smiling.

Sasuke was mystefied about what was happening, but nodded anyways. "Well, it's your turn to act now, brother; Let's go." They followed Itachis' decision and left the room. Sakura held Haru back for a bit, wanting to talk.

"So what's up with the promise between Sasuke and your guardian?" At this point, she didn't have too much information about Harus' home life. Haru looked to the side, "Well, I don't know what to tell you, but…" She gave Sakura most of the details regarding the promise. Sakura stood back, almost shocked, "What!" Haru smirked and left the room, "Let's go!"

By the time the two left the room, the main room was almost empty, except for some drunks. Everyone in the party had already left, except for Gin, who was minding his bar. They said their good-byes and left the bar.

Morning – Konoha…

As per requested, team 7 had met together pretty early in the day. Although it was against common sense, they met at the appointed time anyways, but they took a detour instead.

"Why do you want to visit the Konoha Monument?" Haru was curious about the stone since she had never seen it, even though she lived in the village for the last five years.

Sasuke sighed, "There's not much to say. It's just a stone with the names of those who died over the years in wars and battles. I guess its' pretty interesting as far as I'm concerned." He smiled, "Are you up to seeing it?" Sakura looked at him oddly, "Well, why not? Let's go!"

They walked towards the stone and saw two people standing there; a silver haired man and a cloaked man. They must have been having a secret conversation, since once in a while, one would nod his head, while the other seemed to chuckle silently.

They noticed the team immediately, "Oh, hey guys." Kakashi put up a hand. The other person was Gin, in a traveling cloak. "Hey you three. Are you going to come over here or just stare?" Haru ran over and hugged her guardian, perhaps for the last time. "Are you leaving today?"

He pat her on her head, "Yeah, but I'll hopefully be back soon. There are some things I need to take care of. I just wanted to see this place before I left for a while." After a short time, he left waving good-bye.

"Well, since we're all here, should we get a mission?" While they were all enthusiastic about getting their missions, Sakura was the most. "Yeah, let' go!" Kakashi laughed slightly, "Well then, let's go."

They hurried towards the mission center, which had the other teams, with their jounin-senseis'. Upon hearing the door open, everyone turned their heads and saw team seven.

"Hey guys, how's your day so far?" Kakashi decided to open the line of dialogue. One of the teachers, a bearded man walked up to Kakashi. "So, this is your team, Kakashi?" The only female teacher walked up as well. "It's been a while."

"Hey Asuma, Kurenai." While they were having their own conversation, the teams started their own. "How's life?" Sasuke took the plunge first.

Choji moved his hand in a line, "Not too bad. Have you gotten any missions yet?" Everyone on team 7 shook their heads. "We're getting our missions too."

Kiba got into the conversation, "We're going to get in a good mission because we're so great!" Everyone, aside from him, thought it was impossible, since it had only been a few days since they graduated. "Don't push your luck, Kiba, or you'll get hurt."

He looked to Sasuke, who made the snarky response, "Oh yeah! I'll get you good, pretty boy!" He raised a hand, but was held back. "Shino? What are you doing?"

He pushed up his sunglasses, "You guys shouldn't fight now. It's pointless." He pointed to Iruka, who waved oddly to them. Someone coughed awkwardly.

After the jounin-senseis' were finished talking, they walked back to their respective teams. "So, do you have any missions for us?"

Iruka looked through a stack of papers, "Well…" He gave out a list of 'missions', which were more akin to chores rather than real tasks.

Most of them were taken aback, but those more in the know were aware, although they didn't feel the need to tell their friends. "Although they don't feel like missions, they're supposed to help our team building other than real experience. It's also good for the money, I guess."

Iruka sighed, "Although your right, you don't have to say it like that. For now, you genin are only able to take d-rank missions, which help the village economy and allow you to work together better." They accepted his reasoning, but still didn't like it.

They just went with whatever the easiest mission was, the hardest being fixing a roof. It was annoying work, but it had to be done.

That same day – The Tower (Underground)…

Within the Village Hidden in the Whirling Tides, in the administrative building known as the Tower, underground, experiments were underway. They wanted to make the ultimate weapon, and they succeeded (sort of). The head scientist was there barking orders, telling others what to do.

Both teams were led down to the room with their teachers. "So, what is this room for?" Although Naruto was informed, he didn't have all the details. Zabuza shrugged, "It's a specially installation for making the ultimate weapons/armor. It was made by the rich and for the rich, or people who can support the place."

They made it downstairs shortly and were welcomed by a scientist. "Please follow me this way to Director Yamaki." They followed the man, seeing all the fascinating things inside the lab, especially the creatures inside the test tubes.

They saw the director speaking with a bunch of scientists. "This all looks very good, but we need to get the right formulas." They took notes, as they saw the two teams. "Welcome. Alright, we'll talk about this next time." He handed his clipboard to a fellow scientist. "Hows' your tour so far?"

"Actually, we haven't taken a tour so far." He looked around the basement, "Well, I'm afraid you won't get one for a while. This place is a work in progress, but I digress." He showed them to another area of the room.

The area he led them to was a large chamber in which contained weapons and armor. "I was told to arm you for a future battle. I did everything I could, but as you can see, it's not a complete collection. I hope its' to your liking."

They all took a weapon suited to their particular styles, except for Naruto and Ayame. "What's wrong, are they not to your liking?"

He shook his head, "No, it's just that I never liked to use weapons. Maybe a pair of gloves, but that's it." As for Ayame, she only wanted an adjustment on her blade. She didn't mind keeping the same weapon. Haku decided on a number of sleeve daggers and needles.

Yamaki pursed his lips, "We'll have to make some changes, but I'll see how it goes. Until then…" He produced a pair of armored arm guards from his jacket. "Take these, they're made from a special material harder than most metals. They should suit you in your endeavors." He took them, "Wow, these look great. Thanks." Yamaki smiled towards the boy.

He walked to another area and opened up a door, which produced a rack with a number of black jackets. "These are the uniforms you're required to wear. I hope you enjoy them." There were exclamations of "These are nice!" and so on.

After a few minutes of changing, they got out of their respective changing rooms, and spotted their teachers. "You all look very distinguished. I'm impressed with you work, young man." Yamaki raised his glasses with a finger, "I'm glad your impressed, Nobuharu-san. I hope you'll want an improvement one day." He nodded.

After the two groups left the Tower, they walked towards the mission center. Upon nearing the door, two people walked out and handed their sensei's, Zabuza and Gensai, each a piece of paper. "Well, son of a bitch."

Gensai laughed heartily, "It seems we have a pretty interesting mission!" Zabuza, on the other hand, seemed to frown, "Well, looks like this'll be a pain."

Seiji shot Naruto a look that said, "Sucks to be you!" He ignored the goad, but couldn't help wonder what he meant. Zabuza through away the paper when they headed outside, "Well, we won't be able to start the mission until next week, so, let's get some training done." They all agreed as they needed to learn about their new toys, especially Haku.

A week later (Konoha)…

After a week of meaningless missions, ranging from yard weeding to farm tending, especially the most famous, "Catch Tora" mission. All teams, especially Team 7, were tired.

On the way to the center again, "I hope we get a better mission. I can't take too many more of these D-ranks." Sasuke looked up from a pamphlet, "As far as I know, we shouldn't have to take too many more D-ranks, or at all. Our next mission should be C-rank." The two girls were ecstatic.

Upon entering the door, they saw an old man speaking with the Hokage. "Ah, Team 7, I'm glad you've made it. I'm pleased to say that I've got a mission for you." He presented the man who looked like the client, an old man holding a bottle of alcohol.

"What's this? I asked for a proper ninja escort (hiccup) and all I get is two teams filled with little kids that look more like midgets then anything else? And what's with the kid in the cloak? He looks like he's trying to act cool." He laughed out loud.

As Sakura was about to assault the man, she was suddenly pullet back. "We're not supposed to attack our clients, even if they are pretty annoying." She nodded, understanding his reasoning.

The Hokage explained their mission, which was essentially to take the drunk, Tazuna, back to his homeland, the Land of Wave. He was to be protected until he finished building a bridge that he designed. "This mission should last for about a few weeks. Does this sound good?" Everyone nodded, understanding the situation.

Kakashi told them what to do next, "Alright guys, go pack up necessary supplies and we'll meet up at the entrance of the village. We'll leave than, okay?" They left to go back to their respective homes.

End

Another chapter done, finally. I'd like to apologize if some parts are confusing since I'm not too great with small talk, but there it is. Thanks for reading!


	9. Chapter 9

Secret Mission and a Half

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other crossovers I may put into this work of fiction.

Reviewer's Corner (From Ch. 8):

TLDT: Yeah, I won't. It's too squicky for me.

Pairing: Damn it! I'm not pairing her up with anyone!1111111111!

They're not Oc's either. Most non-Naruto characters are from other series. I just don't feel like saying where they're from. I'll possibly say it in Chapter 10.

Start

After learning of the mission objectives and packing their necessary belongings, the team met at the East Gate. They showed up at the gate wearing different clothes than usual, especially Haru. Instead of the short skirt and shirt she usually wore, she had a semi-long one-piece dress, and a pair of long gloves. It had seemed like she was wearing make-up, as the usually stoic Sasuke seemed to look away. Sakura was a bit peeved, but couldn't help but slightly adore her companion.

After the greetings, Team Kakashi started their mission. They walked in a protective formation, with Sasuke at the head, the girls at the sides, and Kakashi at the back. After fifteen minutes of silence, Sakura asked a question, "Tazuna, what's Wave like?" He paused.

"It's a beautiful country surrounded by crystal waves. The people there are friendly. It's both paradise and home rolled into one." Both Sasuke and Kakashi were able to feel a wave of emotions wash up from the sentimental old man. The most notable were sadness and longing.

They soon passed a puddle, but made no sudden movements. The suspicion of this being a simple C-rank mission had all but disappeared just when they passed the puddle. Two ninja emerged from the 'puddle' and struck with their bladed chains, shredding Kakashi to bits. "No!" Sakura yelled aloud.

'Slap'. She was quickly snapped out of her initial stupor. With her hands on Sakuras' shoulders, Haru yelled at her, "Snap out of it! We have to protect Tazuna." The two ninja charged towards the girls, but were stopped by a well-aimed shuriken in the chain links. They nearly collided but were instead clung to a tree by a flurry of kunai knives.

With the rogue ninja tied up, a clap sounded from the surroundings. Kakashi walked out, "Well done, all." They were relieved that there were no more enemies to fight. He turned his head to Tazuna, "We have to talk." The old man felt like soiling himself.

He gently put his hands on Tazuna's shoulders, causing the man to shiver. "Tazuna, please tell us who those two ninja were. We won't be able to advance without this information." After being scared out of his mind, he miserably spat out a name, "Gato."

His ears perked up, "You mean the shipping magnate, Gato?" The mans name was known through out the continent as one of the richest men in the world. "Why would he want to kill a simple bridge builder?"

He explained, "Beneath the business man identity, he has another side. His shipping company is a front for illegal operations such as shipping illegal goods and drug dealing. He's created a monopoly over Wave by taking control of all of its' trade routes. He's turned our paradise into a hellhole." He nearly cried upon explaining his grief.

Sakura smacked her fist to her palm, "Of course, Waves' geography. It's nothing but a chain of islands, no offense." He simply waved, "The only way on those islands would be a boat. If the bridge was finished, Gatos' 'business' would theoretically be ruined."

Haru continued, "Of course, if Tazuna was dead, the bridge wouldn't be built, and no one would know about Gatos' illegal operations on Wave. No one would be able to stop him." It had all made sense.

Tazuna, after confirming the theories, continued, "Yes, ever since Gato's shipping drove everyone else from business, Gato literally controlled Wave. Everyone lives in poverty. Gato's thugs do what they please. The bridge I'm building is large enough to drive Gato out of Wave. If the Bridge is completed, then Wave's economy will flourish again. I couldn't afford a B-rank mission so that why I lied and asked for a C-rank." Everyone looked at Kakashi for orders.

He looked at everyone, "You have to decide as a team if you want to continue. If you're not all up for it, we'll have to go back and ask another team to do this." He waited for an outburst.

Sakura was about to raise her hand, but was held back by Sasuke. "You feel worried, but consider this. We'll never have another chance at this mission. Besides, Kakashi will be there for when things get rough. Okay?" He gave her his hand, hoping she would take it.

Haru held his hand, "Alright, I'm in." They both watched what Sakura would do. She put her hand in the middle as well, "I hope you know what you're doing, because if I die, I'll haunt you forever." They all laughed, but immediately turned serious.

"We're all in." Kakashi turned to Tazuna, "Well, I guess that's that." Just as he turned around, he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and saw a terrifying sight, "You will pay for an A-rank mission when Wave gets' back on its' feet, won't you?"

Alright at the breaking point of soiling himself, "Yes! Please don't kill me!" They all laughed at his expense.

Near Wave…

They walked for several miles before settling upon a clearing. Everyone was on guard for a potential ambush. There was a rustle in the bushes as Sasuke threw a shuriken into the bushes.

He walked up and picked up a snow-white rabbit. Only one thought was on their mind, "A white rabbit." "It was raised indoors." "Kawarimi."

Kakashi heard a swooshing noise through the wind, "Duck!"

Kakashi pulled Tazuna towards the ground as a huge zanbatou nearly sliced off the tops of their heads. It missed the three genin as it made its' way into a tree. A ninja appeared on top of the sword. He wore long pants, sleeves, and nothing above, except for a bandage covering his face. "Looks like the demon brothers weren't up to snuff." He turned around, showing his face.

"Zabuza Momochi, Demon of the Hidden Mist." Kakashi introduced the man. Zabuza looked to his foe, "Kakashi Hatake, the Copy Nin." Everyone smirked, knowing about their senseis' name outside of Konoha.

"To what do I owe the pleasure, Zabuza? I heard that you left Kirigakure and turned rogue. What are you doing here?" He was curious because the bingo books update every year. For the last few years, there was no mention of the Demon of the Hidden Mist. Him suddenly popping up in this particular mission was quite disturbing.

He jumped off his sword and finished cutting the tree, causing a loud thud. They were surprised at how he could handle such a large weapon with ease. "Truth be told, I've got a bone to pick with that old man. He's in the way of something big, and I can't be having that."

It was obvious now, Zabuza was hired to take out Tazuna. Kakashi held his arms out, "I won't let you harm Tazuna." He expertly swung his sword around. "We're doing this the hard way than. Ninja Art: Hidden Mist Jutsu!" A thick mist consumed the area, dropping the visibility to dangerous levels.

Kakashi looked around, groping for his team, "Be careful. He's generating a thick mist to decrease our visibility. He'll be able to strike from anywhere."

Sakura was worried, "Shouldn't he be just as blind as any of us?" Sasuke pulled her and Haru aside, "He's using his own chakra. Of course he can see!" As he tried to pull them out of the mist, he heard a sinister voice.

"Eight points… the larynx, spine, lungs, liver, jugular vein, brain, kidney and heart. Now, which vital organ do you want to get struck at?" His voice increased in tone as he listed the organs. They all nearly freak out this time, but were calmed down after someone stomped their foot down. "I won't let any of you die!"

The proclamation assuaged their fears temporarily, as the mist seemed to be less intense. At this point, they could clearly see Zabuza and Kakashi in the middle. "It looks like I'll have to do… this!" He uncovered his eye, revealing a red eye with three tomoe underneath.

"I'm honored that I can see the legendary Sharingan I've heard so much about." The genin watched the two hardened veterans prepare to make their moves. There was a subtle terror in the field; a feeling of despair just about to break free.

Everyone, except for Kakashi, was feeling the dread, especially Sakura. '_What am I doing here? I'm no ninja. If I made the wrong move, I will be marked, I will be killed. What is this feeling." _There was a chill spreading throughout her body, she had goosebumps on her arms. She attempted to counteract this feeling by stabbing herself, but was stopped by Kakashi.

"Sakura, don't worry. I'll protect you with my life." He slightly cocked his head. "I won't let my comrades be killed." As the tension lessened, "Let's see about that." Everyone around Tazuna gasped as Zabuza appeared. As he was about to make a killing stroke, he recoiled. Kakashi had appeared in front of him, a kunai in his chest.

The man turned into water, "A clone!" They turned around, looking for the real body. They all gasped as he appeared right behind them. He struck Kakashi, only for it to appear to be another clone. "What?"

Zabuza quickly felt cold steel against his neck. "Times' up." Zabuza appeared to smirk, breaking up again. They were all agitated, "Another clone? Come on!" Zabuza quickly kicked Kakashi towards the water. In a quick movement, he pulled his sword out of the ground. He ran towards Kakashi, intending to finish the job. "Damn, spikes." He quickly dove into the water.

On the sidelines, everyone was worried. "Should we do something about Kakashi? He got kicked pretty hard." They all shook their respective heads, "This is way out of our league. We can't handle someone like him." Haru threw her two cents, "If one of us were to pop in, Zabuza would get license to kill us." Kakashi popped out of the water, relieving them, but than they remembered. "Kakashi-sensei, Zabuza is an ex-Water Country Elite!"

'_This water is awfully hea- Wait, what?" _Just as he overheard Sasuke, he was too late. Zabuza, who was standing behind him, "Water Prison Jutsu!" A ball of water enveloped the jonin. "_Damn it!"_

"No hard feelings, I'm just doing my job." He made a water clone, insisting on playing with his prey before finishing the job. "I hope you won't seek me out for this." Mist surrounded the clone, hiding it from view.

"You foolish children, you don't have what it takes to be ninja. I suggest you go back to playing ninja in the park." Out of the mist, a large foot kicked Sasuke. He was sent flying, though much softer because of adjustments made on his cloak. '_Thank goodness_.'

Kakashi yelled aloud, "Take Tazuna to safety! Forget about me! As long as Zabuza is holding me in the water prison, he won't be able to move! His water clone won't be able to move too far from his position!" Zabuza looked at him, visibly ticked at the man.

Sasuke stomped the ground, "We won't be able to finish this without you, Kakashi-sensei! We'd be defeated by Zabuza sooner or later." He charged up to the man, throwing a smoke bomb to cover his field of vision.

Zabuza, who trained his eyes well, could see through a mere smoke bomb. He grabbed onto the brat, but it had turned out to be a substitute. 'A log.' Sasuke appeared behind him, "Now!"

Haru nodded and threw a volley of kunai, each piercing the clone, ending its' brief existence. Zabuza was slightly miffed at the upstart brats, but it wasn't over.

"Sakura, do it!" She had trouble, but managed to throw a fuma shuriken at Zabuza, despite her physical strength. "That shuriken won't work on me." Just as he boasted, the fuma shuriken had broken up into multiple regular shuriken. Instead of risking it, he simply removes the jutsu and dives under water.

Haru swam to the middle and got Kakashi out of the water. "Are you alright?" He coughed up some water, but gave a thumbs-up. They all smiled. "What are we going to do about Zabuza?" He disappeared as if he had never been there at all.

Another area…

Zabuza gasps for air as he swims to the rendezvous point where he is supposed to meet Haku and Ayame. '_That Kakashi… Maybe I'm getting sentimental.'_

After he gets out of the lake, he sees the two in another clearing. "What took so long, Zabuza-sensei?" He was handed his uniform, "You must be freezing from that dip you took." He thanked Haku.

"The mission went well. It seems Konoha isn't as weak as was said on the mission description." He was still curious about why he received the mission.

Two days ago…

After training for the few days in preparation, Zabuza revealed the mission to his team. "Why are we only being told of this now?"

He shrugged, "It's a mystery to me. You'll have to ask your mother when you see her." He pulled out the mission slip, which stated, 'Distract the Konoha Team while Team Nobuharu gains access to Wave.'

"What do Konoha and Wave have anything to do with this?" Zabuza had explained, "I'm afraid we're in dire need of money. A rich man posted a job and I've decided to answer. Luckily, we've got some excellent resources on our side. A scouting team found out some basic information about Wave. After some digging, they found more."

They were filled in on the economic state of the islands as well as Konohas' possible reason to be involved. "So, why do we have to distract them?" Zabuza put his hand on Narutos' shoulder. "I'm glad you asked."

They quickly decided that only Zabuza would confront the Konoha Team, because out side of Whirlpool, everyone knew him as the Demon of the Hidden Mist. "You'll have to win their sympathies, think you can do that?"

Naruto clicked his tongue, "Cake."

Current Time – Tazuna's House…

After being healed from nearly drowning and resting because of chakra use from the Sharingan, they headed for Tazunas' house. Upon entering, "Father your home! Oh thank goodness I was so worried," said the woman with dark navy blue colored hair, dark colored eyes, wearing a pink shirt, and navy blue shirt that went down passed the woman's knees.

"Hey Tsunami, my super daughter of a woman! Sorry I took so long, but I ran into some problems. Fortunately, I had help getting past it with this super team of ninjas. Tsunami these are the super strong ninja's who got me here at the cost of their own lives." He introduced his daughter as she bowed, thankfully.

"Thank you for returning my Father home to me. Without him the bridge we were building would never be completed and our poor village, much less the entire Country of Wave would be consumed in poverty." Each team member bowed politely in return.

Just as they got settled in, a knock sounded on the door. Sasuke went to open the door, and saw a boy, about his age. He had a simple black jacket with lines at different areas and a buttoned up section at the top. The most particular was a mitsudomoe in the center of the uniform. "Oh hello."

"Naruto! You're back!" Tsunami went to help the boy, who walked into the house, as he dropped the firewood. "Everyone, this is Naruto. He helped me today at the market place." Naruto rubbed the back of his neck, "Well, I couldn't just stand there as two thugs approached a beautiful young lady." He quickly got serious as he walked up to Tazuna.

He gave his hand, "You must be Tazuna-san, Super Bridge Builder. It's nice to meet you!" Tazuna was unsure about the boy at first, but after letting down his guard, it was easy to make friends with the boy. Soon, they were all laughing as they were old friends.

Except for Sasuke, he was unconvinced of the act as he had learned from the master of hiding ones' true self. Naruto smiled towards Sasuke, showing a toothy grin.

End

Well, that's the end of this one. Hope you like it!


	10. Chapter 10

Nice Job Fixin' It, Hero!

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other crossovers I may put into this work of fiction.

Reviewer's Corner (From Ch. 9):

Fox of the Blood Moon: Thanks for your suggestions and comment!

Start

After introductions had been finished, Naruto sat down with Tazunas' family and Team Seven. He saw their headbands and asked, "I see you guys are from Konoha. Did you hire them for a mission, Tazuna-san?" From Team Sevens' perspective, he was very polite, but Sasuke could feel some of the loose ends seeping through.

He rubbed the back of his head, "Well, I don't know if I should be saying so, but yes! I've needed some help getting back here. Bandit attacks and such. I was worried for my safety." As he was a stranger and someone who was clearly not from Wave, Tazuna did not disclose all the details of the mission. He did, however, wish to keep the boy at arms length, seeing as he did save his daughter.

Naruto turned his head to the other Konoha nin, "Well, I'm glad you guys made it here safely. Wave is a beautiful place with lots' to offer. It would be a shame for the Master Bridge Builder to miss a chance at this bountiful area." He smirked and took a sip of tea offered earlier. "How are you guys?"

The team looked at each other, unsure of how to answer. Sasuke answered for them, "We're good, but who are you?" He wanted to know, as he could feel something off about that guy. "Heh, I'm just a traveler." He felt some suspicion from one of them, but couldn't exactly tell which.

Haru thought about it and asked, "How did you get here safely? Don't you know what these islands are like?" The question was on everyones' mind. He looked from his tea, "Hmm, what do you mean?"

She was confused, "You don't know how this land is?" She felt something odd about the boy, but couldn't feel what it was. He was grinning like an idiot, but there was an obvious deeper intelligence to his façade.

It was to Kakashi that there was nothing to gain from asking questions, so he tried to have calm them down. "Hey, hey, why don't you guys calm down with the questions for a bit? We've only just got there." He laughed calmly. They were confused about the sudden segway, but didn't question him.

"Well, why don't we help get you guys settled in for the week? You're bound to be tired." He showed them to their rooms, while they unpacked their stuff. Kakashi looked at Naruto, but didn't say anything.

'_Kakashi Hatake. How interesting.' _He sipped his tea and went to go grab his stuff. "Ah, Tsunami-san, I have to be going now." He bowed out of the door.

"Why are you leaving now? You've only just returned, and you helped out so much." Naruto simply waved, "I don't want to impose, I can tell things are going to be tense for a while." He left the door as a boy of eight years old walked in.

Tsunami said to the boy, "Inari, say hello to our guests who helped save your grandfather from an assassin." Tazuna looked outside for a sign of Naruto, but found no one. He asked, "Hey Inari, have you seen a boy walk outside here?" The boy shook his head. "Where…"

An undisclosed location…

Zabuza sat on a couch in a headquarters located in Wave. The building belonged to Gato, as did nearly everything else in the country. The aforementioned man looked at him, smirking, "So the rumors about the 'Demon of the Hidden Mist' are just rumors? I'm starting to think my investment was worthless. Maybe I should just have you killed now?" The man speaking stepped out of the shadows, all short, gray-haired, with a cane and an entourage of two bodyguards.

He sighed, "Do what you want, I don't care. I just want another chance to take on Kakashi." He smirked. Gato frowned and pushed up his glasses, "As long as I don't have to pay you." He twirled his cane and left the building for his next destination. The bodyguards approached Zabuza and tried to look tough, but failed miserably.

They felt daggers against their knives, "Boo." They were scared out of their minds, "What are you doing? Your boss has already left." They ran away, afraid of what Haku might do to them.

"That was unnecessary, I could have handled them myself." He was bored since there were no recent confrontations. "What's the status on the mission?"

Haku stated, after studying his notes, "Apparently Naruto has gotten friendly with the bridge builders' family. Things should be proceeding smoothly after the next week." He pocketed his notebook. "Zabuza-sensei, what will you do in the meantime?"

He grabbed his sword from behind the couch, "I'll do some independent training." He walks out of the building, swinging his zanbatou haphazardly. "I'll see you guys in a few days."

Ayame walks out from another room, yawning, "Oh, Zabuza-sensei left than?" She had her sword with her. Haku nodded, "Yes. Shall we go train, than?" She nodded, just before Naruto walked in.

"Hey, you two." They acknowledged him coming back. "I just saw Zabuza-sensei head out, what is he doing now?" They informed him of his state, "Ah, I see, that's cool." He sat on the couch, tired.

Ayame asked curious, "So, what are the Konoha nin like?" Haku was interested about them as well, hearing of Konohas' generosity and being an overall decent village.

He put his hand to his chin, "If I could put it in one word… odd." They were both dismayed at such a simplistic description, but would wait to see for themselves. "They all seem pretty strong, if the plan goes ahead successfully, we shouldn't have to fight." He smiles.

Back at Tazunas' House…

The entire time Inari sat at the table, he didn't say a word, only leaning forward, eating quietly. "Inari, say something to our guests, you're being incredibly rude." He simply got up without saying a word, heading up to his room.

Sasuke looked at him, but said nothing. After he thought the younger boy was out of earshot, he asked, "So, he must have been like that for a while, huh?" She nodded sadly, "Yes, you're correct, Uchiha-san. He's been sullen ever since that time." As Sasuke was about to press further, Kakashi put a hand on his shoulder.

He gritted his teeth, '_Huh.' _He resumed eating, bowing and heading to his room. "Hold on a moment." Sasuke stopped at the bottom step, "Yeah?" Kakashi fixes his posture, "It looks like you guys are stronger than I thought, but you all will need some more training for the fight ahead."

Sakura asked, "What! Do you expect us to fight against Zabuza?" He looked at her oddly, "Of course not. No, no." He put his elbow on the table, "Someone at Zabuza's level is likely to have back-up. I'm sure he'll bring them when we meet again." He pointed to Sakura, "You, Sakura, will need the most help."

She had a half-surprised face, "What? Why do you have to be so mean, Kakashi-sensei?" He scolded her, "Sorry, but it's the truth. You'll need to improve if you'll stand a chance against one of his lackeys. I will help you, if you want it." He gently lowered his tone at the end.

After being berated, she had to acknowledge her situation sadly. She gave up, "Please help me." He clapped, "Okay! We'll get up nice and early for training!"

Next day…

When Kakashi said nice and early, almost no one had believed him. He woke them up and led them to a clearing with many trees. "Okay, everyone, today we'll be practicing your chakra control by climbing trees." Sakura raised her hand, "But Kakashi-sensei, we already know how to climb trees."

Sasuke shook his head, "No, we're not climbing trees that way." He stepped to a nearby tree and channeled chakra to his feet, and walked up the tree. "I've already mastered this one and I'm working on the water walking exercise." He jumped off the tree.

He asked the other two to demonstrate if they had the ability, but only Haru was able to do it, although not as effective. She fell down, "Ouch…" She sat up gingerly. "I think that was better than last time."

Kakashi folded his arms, "Hm, all right, since Sasuke can do the tree climbing exercise, he should guard Tazuna today. You two should keep working at it." The two males walked away. They both did as was suggested.

As the two walked, Kakashi asked, "What do you think of Naruto?" He knew of Sasukes' sharp mind and keen intellect and wished to pick his brain.

He racked his thoughts, thinking about the short time he met with the boy. "He's… different from other people. He may be hiding something, but his attitude is so erratic, I don't know if it's his real self or a mask." He tried to think from another angle, but failed in that respect.

Kakashi agreed with him, "Well, we'll hopefully learn more soon enough." After their conversation, they reached the bridge. Kakashi walked back to the training area while Sasuke helped Tazunas' crew.

Tazuna, eager for the young ninjas' aid, cheerfully said, "Looks like you've made it. We can use all the help we get." He pointed to a gang of workers and Sasuke rushed over. A tired looking worker stumbled to the master bridge builder, "I'm sorry, Tazuna, I don't think I can do this anymore. I've got my wife at home to think about. It's just not our time yet. I hope you understand."

Tazuna scowled at his worker. "Get off this bridge than! You're fired! I don't want any cowards to be working on this bridge. I want this bridge to be a symbol of the future, a bridge of hope, not despair! Sasuke, I want you to help him back home safely." The young man had just finished the workers with their task and aided the worker safely home. Tazuna put on his hard hat and started barking out orders.

With Haru and Sakura…

The two girls were sweating and tired from running up the tree. The trees they used had many notches at different places, signifying the length the two had run up to. They both saw that Haru was better, but Sakura was making smooth progress.

The two gave thumbs up to each other. "It looks like you two are doing well." They saw Kakashi slowly walking back.

He looked up and whistled, "It looks like your making good progress, but until you can walk up there, it's still no good." It was sad but the truth.

They both stood up, determined to walk their way to the top. "Oh, one more piece of advice. When doing any chakra controlling exercise, think only of the exercise. Unnecessary thoughts cloud the mind and will only hamper your progress." He walked away.

They decided to follow his odd sounding, but convincing, advice.

Later that night…

Sasuke and Tazuna both returned after a hard days work. He managed to sneak a little training in, due to learning Shadow Clone Jutsu. Though the jutsu strains a normal user heavily, he could make one without too much trouble.

Tazuna thanked the boy for the help, "Think nothing of it; I'm just doing my job."

Kakashi, Sakura, and Haru came back a little while later. While they were both tired, Haru appeared to be more worn out. After trying the tree climbing exercise, Sakura was shown the water walking exercise.

"Why are you soaking wet?" Sakura explained her situation.

Sasuke just laughed, "I get what you're feeling. That's tougher because of the constant friction between the water that forces you to constantly change how much chakra you have to use." He patted her on the back, "You should get the hang of it soon."

A shout came from the top of the stairs, "Why do you constantly train when you're not going to win? You don't know anything about this place and all you want is money! You're nothing but thugs and mercenaries who know nothing of what it's like to suffer!" Inari walked downstairs, arms trembling and tears pouring out his eyes.

Sakura was about to walk up to the boy, but was stopped by Sasuke. He walked up to Inari and give him a critical eye, "You don't know what it means to suffer. Imagine, living to eight years old, you're whole life, surrounded by loving family, until all of it is taken away from you in one night. You've got your whole family with you, but most of my family, including my mother and father, are gone. I don't feel like eating." He walked outside into the night.

The team had heard of most of the information, but wanted to make sure of it. "Is that true? What happened to the Uchiha clan?"

Kakashi sighed, "All that, and then some. Most of the Uchiha clan, including Uchiha Fugaku, died during the Kyuubi attack. Four years ago, most of the rest were somehow spirited away. All that's left is Sasuke, his brother Itachi, younger sister, and his uncle, Uchiha Keisuke." He recounted the sad state of one of Konohas' most prominent clans.

They didn't notice the still crying Inari run up to his room. When Haru walked up to see the child, she saw him holding up a picture containing a smiling man with a cross-shaped scar. "Why can't I be strong like you?" His tears slid off the glass picture frame.

The next day…

Sasuke took the night to calm down after telling the others of his hidden pain. He realized he had others worth loving, but two large chunks of his life had been taken away, and nothing ever erases that kind of pain.

After a night of punching trees and practicing his exercises, he found a cozy area to sleep in. As he woke up, he could sense a presence, both familiar and unfamiliar. When his eyes fully opened, he saw a familiar smirk.

He pointed, "You!" It was the boy they met two days earlier, Uzumaki Naruto.

He sat down, "Yes, it's me. Uchiha Sasuke, how goes it?" He offered his hand, Sasuke taking it tenderly. '_What's you're angle?'_

After he put his hand away, "Well, it looks like you're getting some pretty intense training done. What's your deal?" His tone changed.

Sasuke had never been asked that kind of question before, "Er… my deal? What do you mean?"

Naruto quickly laughed, "You know, your deal. Why do you want to be strong? What do you live for?"

He was genuinely confused since he had never given why he did what he did. Of course, he had been asked that question before, but was never required to answer.

After mulling it over, "I want to protect my remaining family members. I'll do whatever I can to help them."

Naruto thought about his answer and said, "Well, I can see under your shallow answer is an iron-clad resolve." He reached into his pocket and handed a ring with a mitsudomoe. "I want you to have this. If you're anything like I hope you are, you should be able to achieve your true desire."

When the ring reached Sasukes' hand, he felt the strange urge to put it on. When he looked up, he saw no sight of the blond. He proceeded by leaving the area.

With Naruto…

He said to himself, "Farewell, Shining One. Perhaps we'll meet again, sooner or later." Things had been progressing faster than he had thought. To start, he had been able to hand over the ring to someone earlier than he thought. He thought about the previous weeks events.

Previous week – The Tower…

After gaining their mission and training for a few days, Team Zabuza was called back to the tower, though only Naruto was truly requested. After heading down the elevator, Naruto was escorted by a scientist to see the director, Yamaki.

Yamaki greeted him feverously, "Welcome back, Naruto! How is your team doing with their new weapons? I need your feedback."

He waved his hand horizontally, "They haven't been able to try live targets yet, though Ayame is at least getting stronger. What did you add to that thing anyways? It's much heavier than before."

He laughed, "I'm sorry, but that's top secret until I get the clear from the big guy upstairs. Please follow me." He lifted up his glasses as he showed the boy deeper into the laboratory.

After passing through many rooms and a few doors, they walked into a room with many tanks. They stopped at a certain tank. "Naruto, allow me to unveil, our power source!"

Low lights were turned on at cue, showing inside the large tank, a man with shaggy red hair attached to several tubes. He had a red mane and something that seemed to be a tail?

The boy was shocked beyond belief, "What is this?"

Yamaki made a shushing motion, "Shh! _You'll wake him… her… it… up!"_ He began whispering. "_This is the power source for our whole experimental section. You don't think we have all the power just from regular electricity, do you?"_

Naruto was unsure what to think of, "Well, now that you mention it…"

Yamaki looked around, after understanding the situation, "Alright, we can speak normally." He cleared his throat, "You see, for our experiments, electricity just isn't viable. Luckily, we have a large amount of alternative energy and a happy volunteer."

Naruto could tell something was off, "I'm not so sure… Why is he dazed like that?"

Yamaki patted the cell, "Draining energy will do that to you, I'm afraid. Now…" He pulled a lever and the tubes retracted into the machine.

The man awoke and scratched his ears. He saw Yamaki and snarled, "Why did you wake me, human?" Yamaki pointed towards Naruto. There was a twinkle in his eye.

"Ah, I see." He closed his eyes and seemed to focus. After a short time, a ring appeared, falling into Narutos' hand.

Yamaki raised an eye. '_Ah, I see.' _He put his hand in his pocket, searching for something.

Upon closer inspection, Naruto saw nine scratches. He looked at the tank again, but saw nothing in there. He looked aback, "What!"

He felt a tug and as he turned back, he received another ring with a mitsudomoe.

"Okay, what's with the rings?" Yamaki turned around, "I want you to give the second ring to a man with great potential. A 'Shining One', if you will. This ring should glow when you run into one." He left to open the door and they both left.

Current Time…

As he walked back to the headquarters, '_Who knew it would be him?' _He opened the door and saw the rest of his team.

They all acknowledged his coming back. He spoke when he sat down, "So, when will we do this thing?"

Ayame answered him, "We'll attack a few days from now, when the bridge is nearly finished." He nodded, understanding the situation. "Well, what should we do now?"

They decided to spend the rest of the time training for their encounter.

After Sasuke walked back to Tazunas' home, Team 7 would spent the rest of the time training as well.

Encounter – Battle on the Big Bridge…

From the time everyone started training, they were gearing up for the big confrontation. The night before, an anonymous challenge letter was delivered. "We will finish this tomorrow morning." The note was signed Momochi Zabuza.

After reading it, Sakura gasped, "Is this serious?"

Kakashi nodded, "I'm afraid so. We'll have to take this threat seriously." He turned to Tazuna, "Do you think you can warn your builders to stay away?" The old man nodded.

"I'll try my best, but I can't guarantee anything."

Kakashi eye-smiled, "That's all I need."

The next day…

After waking up, team 7, with the exception of Sasuke, escorted Tazuna to the homes of all the workers and issued a warning.

"I'm sure that Gato will try to do something nefarious to Tsunami and Inari. I've gotta see this through." They all nodded and prepared to leave.

15 minutes later – Bridge building site…

When the group made it to the bridge, there was no one in sight. They all sighed with relief, just as a mist rolled in. Kakashi uncovered his Sharingan eye, "Just in time."

Three figures appeared out of the thick mist. One was obvious Zabuza, while the other two had the entire hunter-nin ensemble. One had the regular hunter-nin ensemble, but the others was slightly different. She also seemed to carry a large cleaver her own size with little difficulty.

Zabuza seemed to nod, causing his companion to throw her cleaver in the air and deftly catch it, performing a haphazard sword-dance in the process. He counted team 7's numbers.

"Where's that Uchiha runt of yours, Kakashi? I was hoping to have my prize pupil mutilate him a little!" His associate stepped on his foot, "OW!"

The words echoed in their minds, "What did you mean 'pupil'!" This information caused some great concern with Kakashi.

One of the ninja face-palmed, "Why did you reveal that information to them? It's supposed to be a secret!" He simply shrugged.

He mock apologized, "It's not a big deal. They won't live long enough to report it." He charges straight to Kakashi, intending to make a killer strike. Kakashi managed to pull a kunai and block his sword.

As the two instructors were fighting, team Kakashi made a protective circle around Tazuna and waited; and waited. "What's going on! Aren't you going to try and kill Tazuna?"

There was no answer. Sakura was irritated while Haru was confused.

Tazunas' House…

While two monsters clashed, another occurrence happened far away. The door to Tazunas' House was kicked down. Sasuke heard the ruckus from his room upstairs, but was too late to do anything.

He ran outside and saw the two goons, "Hey! Let that woman alone!"

One of the two, a man with a purple hat and white hair, Zori, yelled, "What are you going to do about it! We've got the hostage right here! If you make a move, I'll kill her!" He put his sword near her throat.

Sasuke was in a pinch, '_Damn it! I can easily kill him but I need a distraction.'_

Just than, Inari ran down, "Jerks! What are you doing to my mom?" As soon as he saw the four outside, he rushed down as soon as he could. He ran past the ninja and tried to take the two thugs by himself.

Nevertheless, he failed, falling victim to Zoris' partner, Waraji. "What should we do about this kid?" Zori looked at Tsunami, "We only need one hostage. Just kill the damn kid and lets go to the boss."

As Waraji made his move, Inari was taken out of his sight. "Where'd he go?" He was suddenly knocked unconscious.

As Zoris' eyes widened, he too was knocked out.

Inari woke up from the blow to the head, just to see the two thugs lying on the ground. Tsunami ran up to him and hugged him with all her might. "But what happened to those two."

They looked for Sasuke, but he was no longer there.

The Bridge…

While Kakashi and Zabuza were still fighting it out, the two made no moves towards Tazuna.

Although it was good for Sakura and Haru, it was starting to get on their (Sakura) nerves.

Ayame twirled her sword around, getting into combat stance. Haku motioned forward and whispered, "What are you doing? This isn't part of the plan!"

She spoke listlessly, "I'm bored. I'm just going to rough them up a bit." Haku felt no need to hold her back, but watched just in case things went a little far.

As she neared them, many whizzing sounds pierced the mist. She managed to dodge the projectiles in time. The two from the Kakashi team looked towards the origin of the objects.

It was Sasuke who threw the kunai. He hurried to the fight scene.

He saw the two fighting, along with the masked nin. "What is going on?"

The two girls filled him in, "Okay, but that doesn't explain anything." He faced the two nin, "What is going on here! Why aren't you trying to kill Tazuna right now!" One of the masked nin disappeared, causing him to look aback.

He blocked a senbon with his kunai. He heard a sound of light laughter through the mist, "You're very good, Uchiha Sasuke." The masked nin from earlier appeared in front of him, "But not good enough!" '**Secret Jutsu: A Thousand Needles of Death!' **Water from the mist and the water clone he had made earlier coalesced above the two, turning into many needles.

He manages to dodge the needles at the last second, but Sasuke wasn't so lucky.

As Haku walks up to his seemingly unconscious form, he throws a deadly left hook. Haku is thrown off balance while Sasuke gets up without a scratch.

He was genuinely surprised. "How! That technique should have been flawless!"

Sasuke clicked his tongue, "It's a secret." '**Fire Release: Great Fireball!" **He made quick hand signs and breathes a large fireball out of his mouth.

Though the fireball covered a large radius, it only managed to slightly singe his opponent.

With his mask burnt, he feels no need to wear it anymore and throws it away. The two girls were shocked that Haku was a boy. "You're a boy! You totally sound like a girl!"

He laughs, "Don't let my exterior fool you, my gender is indeed male." As he was about to do a secret technique, a shuriken was thrown.

A gruff voice sounded out, "**Don't bother continuing this fight!**" A power dissipated the mist.

A fourth masked ninja, but different from the hunter-nin masks, walked in. He had a large bag slung across his shoulder.

The two doing the actual fighting were stunned, but Zabuza put his sword away, "Are the preparations ready?" The boy nodded. "Good."

He walked up to Team 7, who blocked his path. "**You're in the way. Move!**" They did as they were told, as the masked boy gave the bag to Tazuna.

"**Old man, this should be enough to get Wave by for a couple months. We're expecting your co-operation when we ask for your business. Nod if you understand!**" He nodded, unsure of what exactly was going on.

The boy nodded, just as a large entourage came by, with Gato at the head. The midget mob boss shouted, "Hey brat! Come back here with that money!"

Once he saw a slightly worn Zabuza and Kakashi however, his thoughts segued. "So, Momochi Zabuza, Demon of the Hidden Mist, is unable to handle an old bridge builder?" He laughed, which signaled for his mob to laugh as well.

Zabuza spat towards him, "Tch, worthless scum. You're words are worth as much as your ill-gotten money. I don't need you." His jibe touched a cord, as Gatos' cane struck the ground.

He grinned widely, as an entourage of real hunter-nin appeared from behind him. "These guys came earlier, asking for information about you. I turned them away, saying that you weren't here, but after I heard about the large reward, I just couldn't help myself. So, go get him!" The four moved not an inch.

He grew angry, "Aren't you going to bring him back to you kage? Isn't this supposed to be your job?" He turned to one, before receiving a jab to his face. "We don't take orders from a washed up has been like you, old man!"

His grin turned into a frown, growing enraged at the behavior towards one as great as him. "Washed up has been!" He gestured to his henchmen, who all stepped back, giving the man space. "I didn't want to have to do this right away, but you give me no choice!"

He pulled out a brief-case, seemingly from nowhere. He opened it and revealed a complicated mechanism, with what looked like a circle of sorts. He pricked his finger on the needle in the middle. Blood began to spread within the circle in a complicated array.

The array shone as a strange being appeared. Everyone was shocked at what appeared to be a composite figure. It appeared to be composed many leaf like objects, with a sash around where its' neck was.

Taken aback, Gato was frightened, and a bit pissed off, "What are you! This isn't what I wanted! You're an abomination! Kill it!" His henchmen, unsure of what to do, obeyed their bosses orders.

Kakashi moved towards the creature, but was stopped by Zabuza. "Let them do their thing. They have to learn." Kakashi could sense the bloodlust about to erupt from the former mist nin. He saw the hunter nin weren't making their move either.

Normal attacks seemed to be bouncing off the creature. None of the mortal weapons being used had any effect on the abomination. It still appeared to be looking at Gato, who was scared out of its' mind.

After a short time and many worthless hits, it started to assault the henchmen. The bodies slowly piled up as Gatos' men were starting to run away in terror.

"What the hell is that thing!" Soon enough, only Gato was there to face the monster. With nowhere to go, he begged forgiveness, but was only given death. His lifeless corpse was thrown away, useless to the creature.

On the sidelines, everyone in Team Kakashi was sick to their stomachs. This kind of bloodshed was technically unheard of. Zabuza whistled, "The old man was able to pull off that kind of summon? I didn't know he had it in him."

Their eyes raised, "What kind of summoning is this! There is nothing from the spirit world like this!" Zabuza laughed, "Oh ye of little knowledge. Just let the big boys handle this." He grabbed his sword and ran to the monster.

He ran the sword to the ground, making sparks during his run. As he raised his sword, it appeared to be on fire. He struck the monster down, causing it to fall. "Cake."

As he walked away, a large fireball struck it. He turned back, saw the fire, and turned to the origin. It turned out to be Sasuke, but the masked nin had his hand out. '_Shit.'_

Zabuza walked back to his associates, but walked up to Sasuke. He noticed the ring, "You better take care of that ring, you hear, brat? It'll come in handy some time soon."

The lead hunter nin walked up to Zabuza, "Momochi Zabuza, come with us, unless you want to be killed. You're associates are free to walk away as they like as long as you don't resist." He raised his hand, as one of the hunters took his sword away. They all disappeared.

Just as things were starting to calm down, the villagers, with Inari at the front, came to. "Where did those guys run off to?" They all seemed to miss the pile of dead bodies, for good reason.

The masked nin walked up to them, "You may have missed the fighting, Inari, but we'll have one hell of a celebration, seeing that Gato is gone and Wave is finally set free!" He took off his mask, revealing himself to be Naruto.

Inaris' eyes shone, just like all the villagers. A pale Tazuna, who had just seen a horrific sight, just realized that their entire country was now set free.

That night was a celebration worth remembering. Over ale and food, the three had told of their daring plan to infiltrate as hunter nin searching Zabuza, and aid the country in need. Although they did manage to hide their true objectives fairly well.

As everyone got patched up, they enjoyed the night all they could. Then came morning…

When morning came, the three nin from before had all disappeared. Even the usually stoic Sasuke and the ever-observant Kakashi hadn't been able to sense them at all.

Sasuke snarled angrily, "Must have been all that ale they offered me. Damn, I've never drunk so much in my life. I have such a headache." As he felt he was about to throw up, he looked at his ring, one of the tomoe was emitting an eerie glow.

Thinking nothing of it, he hurled his guts out.

Haru and Sakura however, had a different story. During the night, they both spoke with Haku, who was very kind. Ayame, however, was a different story. In short, she seemed almost the antithesis of Haku.

Haku attempted to coax Haru into singing, after a few drinks. She got up, and sang her heart out, before stumbling off the stage. She did receive a wide applause from her audience, however.

Sakura, did not. She was booed off the stage as soon as she started to sing.

Haru was left with a note, "Keep going!" Sakura just received nothing.

She was biting her lip, "You got a compliment from a cute guy while I get nothing! That's so not fair!"

Haru pointed something out to her, "I think you've got something here." She pointed to a scrap of paper, which when seen by Sakura, caused her to squeal with joy. Haru simply smiled at her friend.

When they headed to the bridge, they were surprised that it was built over the few hours they had slept. The other surprising fact was that it had 'Leaf x Whirlpool' painted on it. "What the!"

End

Lols, finally I'm done the Wave Arc. I'm so happy I can move onto the next one. It'll take a while to gather my thoughts though, so please review.


	11. Chapter 11

And Next on the Agenda…

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other crossovers I may put into this work of fiction.

Reviewer's Corner (From Ch. 10):

Narutox334125: Of course there'll be new chapters. I just have to make all I've written so far flow into the Chunin Exam arc. That'll take a while.

Start

Over night, a miracle had happened; Tazunas' bridge had been built. Probably the only thing that could ruin this now was the mess painted on its side. The words 'Leaf X Whirlpool' would scar this magnificent monument to architecture forever.

Everyone had mild shock on the faces, though Kakashis' was the most noticeable. As of this moment, it was no secret where those ninja were sent. Now, it was only a matter of why and who?

Sasuke had heard of the Whirlpool ninjas of Uzushiogakure from Itachi. They were said to be fearsome in their own right, especially in the esoteric art of sealing. This secretive village was able to oust master spies of the greatest caliber.

Sakura and Haru, though out of the loop, did in fact know a little bit of general information about the village.

Tazuna hit his palm with a fist, "Of course, the ninjas of Whirlpool! This suddenly makes sense now!" He drew the attention of the Leaf team, "That Naruto said that he represented Uzushiogakure before he left that night. He showed me his headband and said he wanted to re-open the trade route with us. He said that money was a restart up for us to get our country going again." Tazuna was sincerely happy, and Kakashi didn't wish to ruin the mood.

He ruffled his own hair, "Well, I guess we won't be staying here any longer. We'll be out of your hair than." He was stopped by a declaration.

"Wait!" The voice of Inari came from up the stairs. He looked up to the members of the Konoha team, especially Sasuke, "Yeah?"

He smiled, "I wanted to thank you for setting me straight. I'm not the saddest kid in the world, I know that now." He looked to his feet, "I wanted to apologize for all the mean things I said."

He stopped talking when Sasuke patted his head, "It's fine, Inari. Just remember to live a good life." He turned away and walked out the door.

Haru turned to the door too, "Well, we should probably head back to Konoha too. C'mon guys!" They all turned and waved goodbye to Tazunas' family.

Just as a last note, Tazuna shouted towards them, "I don't know if this means anything to you, but the lord of Uzushiogakure is Uzumaki Kushina! She sent us a secret message regarding the opening of the trade route just a few weeks before you've come here!"

Kakashi thanked the elderly bridge builder for the information. He sighed, '_Boy, this one will be difficult to explain to Hokage-sama.' _He started to put the pieces together in a convoluted puzzle.

Now the latest information was on Sasukes' mind, '_Uzumaki Kushina? Wouldn't she be…' _He became disgruntled inwardly.

Both of the girls were worried about this information, but made no attempt to show their unhappiness.

The night before…

After everyone was drunk on pleasure, merriment, and booze, they all slept the night away. Even the ones not familiar with the gentle feeling of alcohol had tasted its sweet nectar. One group was stirring in the dark, unaffected by the booze they had spiked.

"Are you guys going to be okay, sneaking off like this? Those Konoha ninjas were pretty nice." That person was immediately shushed.

"It's not a matter of how nice they were, it's a matter of how Naruto idiotically revealed himself!" The last barb was whispered, for fear someone wouldn't be drunk enough.

"Yeah, I was pretty awesome. We'll get to see those guys soon enough at the big event, anyways." They knew what he was talking about.

The three headed to the bridge, "I can't believe we're about to do this." A light flashed and the rest is history…

Daytime…

They took a boat back to the mainland and walked to a Whirlpool affiliated safe ground. This was where the Zabuza team would meet the Nobuharu team. After the fire was made, a bush rustled. "The crow caws at midnight."

Naruto imitated a cawing sound, and five people, the Nobuharu team and Zabuza stepped out of the bushes. Zabuza slightly snickered, "Naruto, your bird calls are getting a lot better. You might want to stick to becoming a professional bird caller, rather than a ninja."

His mouth twitched, "It's my uncle, he keeps insisting that the crow represents the Uzumaki clan. Said something about disowning me if I don't practice every so often."

Zabuza and Seiji laughed, but he was hit on the head. "Ow, why'd you do that for?"

Zabuza's stern face looked at him, shutting him up instantly. "That's enough, boy. C'mon, let's go." As he led his team away, Gensai spoke.

"Thank you for your co-operation, Zabuza. We couldn't have finished this without you."

He nodded, "Think nothing of it."

The two teams went their separate ways, with different goals in mind.

Konoha – Homecoming…

When the Konoha team reached the gates, they had to report a successful mission. Kakashi however, had to stay to report sensitive information.

After closing the door, "I have some interesting news on Uzushiogakure."

The Sandaime Hokages, Hiruzen Sarutobi, ear perked up. "So, they are finally making their move? Please tell me this news." He prepared for the worst.

"The lord of the land appears to be Uzumaki Kushina, I'm sad to say." Hiruzen knew somewhere in his heart that she was indeed the leader, but was afraid to think it.

He thought sadly, "Why shroud herself with secrecy in her homeland? What is her grand plan, if anything?" He didn't wish to think about the tragedy from years ago, but it had come to his mind.

Kakashi was still unsure of what to think, but he continued, "One of the ninja under her rule seemed very familiar. His name was Naruto…" This caught the old mans' attention.

'_Naruto…' _The name struck a gong in the Sandaimes' heart. He had heard it from just one place before the tragedy struck.

Wishing to take time to contemplate things, "You're excused, Kakashi." He stood up to look out his window as the young jonin left.

Uchiha Compound…

Sasuke invited the two girls back to his home for tea. They naturally accepted, as he didn't invite them into his home too often. "Sasuke-kun, why don't you invite us into your home more often?"

He was taken aback by the –kun suffix, as he never heard Sakura use it to him in public. Of course, with the spiked beverage he had the night before, he wouldn't remember a lot of stuff.

Blushing, he said softly, "C'mon, let's walk in."

When the three entered, Itsuko welcomed the three. "Hi, Sasuke, welcome home." She looked happy when she saw the two girls, "Are these your girlfriends?"

He looked away as his mouth twitched, but he bowed anyways, "No, we're just on the same team. Have you seen Itachi or uncle anywhere?" She shook her head.

"Uncle was here earlier, but he left somewhere. I think onii-chan is at his friends house." Sasuke nodded.

"Thank you." He put away his cloak, "Shall I heat up the tea and we'll talk in the den?" The two girls nodded. Itsuko went to go off somewhere.

After being treated, the host started to speak. "So, about the information we heard, what do you guys know?" He was very curious to hear about the Uzumaki family.

Haru started, "Well, the general knowledge is that the Uzumaki family all originally came from Uzushiogakure, which had a rich history with Konoha before it started to decline."

As she racked her brain, Sakura continued, "I've heard that the First Hokage, Hashirama-sama, was married to an Uzumaki." The two pieces of information was of general knowledge to the ninja section of Konoha.

Sasuke nodded, "Right, right… All I know is that after the Sandaime came into power, things started to go down hill a bit. It wasn't until Namikaze Minato came into power that relations became better." He had heard this tidbit from his brother.

"What does this have to do with Whirlpool now? Why are they doing this?"

Uzushiogakure – The Tower – Meeting Room…

"It's a secret…" After reporting a successful mission, Zabuza headed to make his personal report. He asked why he was getting involved with ninja from Konoha, and why team Gensai had the more interesting mission.

She shuffled through her papers before reappearing in another place. Zabuza felt through her to make sure it was an afterimage, "What are you doing?"

He looked behind as he saw the Red Hot-blooded Habanero. "Uh… I just wanted to say that's it. I'll be going now." He quickly ran away from the leader of the village.

Kushina quickly peered over the report, making note that Kakashi was the one leading the team. '_The Son of the White Fang has finally gotten out of his funk…' _She also made note of the Uchiha and a ring on his finger.

She inhaled, '_That Yamaki… What is he up to?'_ These scheming types were usually up to no good, but they were useful to keep around.

She looked at her own window. "Damn, this is going to be a pain."

Uzumaki Castle…

As Zabuza made his report, Naruto, Haku, and Ayame made it back to the castle. Since the two were allowed inside, they made it a point to take advantage of the building whenever they could. The three usually took advantage of the training grounds though.

Naruto watched Haku and Ayame train, as he had a water clone and a shadow clone do different types of training. His own training included making the two last for a longer period of time, at the same time.

"You guys seem to be having too much fun here. Don't you think you might be taking advantage of this place too much?"

Ayame walked up to him, "This place has everything and we're welcome here. You do the math." Haku had to agree, and be slightly peeved at the prince.

"Naruto, please try to understand how we feel. You were basically handed everything, while we had to work for it. Ayame was more fortunate than me since she was founded by a rich ex-ninja." He was about to continue, but decided not to.

Naruto nodded, "I see your point, but what good is all the training in the world without pacing. If I were to train like you guys, I'd be too tired to use the power when it really counts. Besides, you never seem to take a break or anything."

Zabuza than walked in, "I agree with the little idiot." Naruto was peeved while Haku and Ayame both laughed at his expense. "Ah, Zabuza-sensei, you finished your report. How well did we do?" He still felt the need to receive confirmation of a well-done job.

Zabuza just laughed, "You don't have to be so formal, Haku. She says we did well." He sees the training they're doing, "It looks like you guys need a break. Lets' go out somewhere, my treat."

Naruto stood up and dispelled his clones, "Yeah! Let's go to that bar I heard about. I heard there was an amazing singer there!" He liked listening to beautiful voices since he was young. It was like a soothing lullaby for him.

However, a firm arm stopped him. "Not so fast, Naruto." Zabuza handed him two slips of paper, "One of these is a mission and another is from Genbu. He wants you to meet him immediately and the mission is to be done immediately after you meet with the old man."

He was slightly pissed, but figured, one can meet a beautiful dame any day.

He skipped down to his fake grandfathers house, not caring if anyone laughed at him.

He was greeted by Todoh, Genbus' bodyguard and confident, who called for his master. Upon seeing the man walk downstairs, he stood and bowed.

The old man raised a hand, "Enough, Naruto…" He walked to the boy and said, "You're certainly maturing to a fine young man, lad."

He said happily, "You've no idea what this means to me. You've raised me as your own along with Ayame, even though we both aren't blood relatives." He was able to hold back his tears.

He smiled, "It isn't easy to say, even though I've already said it. I'm dying, Naruto. I've been dying for a very long time, ever since I was born. I just had too much to do to accept the fact that I'm going away for a very long time."

His expression changed, "Ever since I met you, I decided to try to prolong my life just a bit longer. I'm afraid that time has come and the reaper will try and take me. I've come to accept his visit, though. That is why, you, Naruto, must be the one to kill me!"

This stunned the blond, "Me, but why? Why can't you have Todoh-san do it instead? I'm sure he's much more reliable. I'm still a fresh out of school academy brat!"

He nodded and laughed, "True, all very true, but! You have one thing he doesn't! Conviction! He's stayed by my side and served under me for too long! That fool won't be able to kill me! You, however, can."

Naruto was still uncertain. On one hand, he could entertain the ideas of a mad old man, or he could save his soul.

Genbu, sensing the stone conviction beginning to soften, said shrewdly, "What if I said, I was going against the current regime? I don't agree with your mother, the queen, at all. I'm an anarchist, through and through! I wish to dethrone that bitch of a queen, and take over this land, me, myself, and I as my own advisors and ruler."

This now caught the boys attention, "What did you say?"

His hand began shaking uncontrollably. He tried to inhibit the movement of his muscles, but something in his very being forced him to move a hand toward his pretend grandfathers neck. His eyes bulged as he began shaking uncontrollably.

It happened in an instant. The young ninja strangled the old man to death. Just before the light left the old mans eyes, a light hit Narutos' eyes straight on.

He awakened near the supposed meeting place, not aware of the events that had perspired a moment before. '_This…'_

He looked at the scrap of paper he received and met, coincidentally near the bar he suggested. As he went to take a peek, a woman pulled him away.

He spoke annoyingly, "Hey, what are you…" When he turned around and saw her, "Oh, you're that reporter woman from the Committee, Shoji."

The woman in question wore a purple suit and skirt, and had her hair done up professionally. Her piercing eyes stared at the boy as she handed a clipboard to him, "Yes, you are correct. Here's your mission assignment."

Naruto skimmed the mission, "I have to do this alone?" She nodded.

He gleamed over the clipboard and understood the jist of the mission. "We're hoping you'll reach the town and come back tonight. One of our agents is there and will inform you with the rest of the details. The agent will have an Uzumaki swirl on the clothes."

He nodded and went on his way. Shoji sighed and walked away, only to meet Yamaki.

She was slightly surprised, "Yamaki-san, it's strange to see you out of your usual habitat." He chuckled.

He said snidely, "Well, well, well, Shoji-chan. I see you've handed young Naruto his new mission." She was not amused, "You were the one who gave it to me, you know? Why did you ask this of me?"

He mockingly laughed, "Of course!" He shifted gears, "I want him to learn of other forces in this interesting yet convoluted play." He turns and heads for the Tower, and waves.

She was worried for the boy, _'There's a serious feeling coming from this man and I don't like it.' _She shook her head and walked back to the administrative building.

Neighboring Village…

It only took a short distance to walk to the village where the informant would be. It seemed to be a nice unassuming, place, far from where a major conflict would start brewing. He walked into the bar, where he assumed the informant would be.

Inside, there weren't many people except for a few local drunks, the bar tender, and a cloaked man. He walked up to the cloaked man and engaged in conversation.

Before he said anything, the man pulled him in towards a booth. He whispered, "_Did anyone follow you?" _Naruto shook his head. "Good."

He lowered his hood to reveal his face, black hair, and goatee. He also wore a bar tenders uniform, oddly enough. He gave his hand, "Kamiya Eiji, but please call me Gin. Nice to meetcha."

He shook the odd mans' hand, "Uzumaki Naruto." He nodded, "I assume you understand the full scope of this mission?"

He scratched his head, "The jist of this is that you want me to attend a Shomonkai meeting?" He nodded, "Not me personally, but yes, that is the premise. I'm just here to help you out a bit. Follow me."

He escorted Naruto out back from the bar tenders secret exit. In the back, there was a tied up man in a red robe. "Woah! He looks pretty roughed up."

Gin put his hood back on, "Alright, I've questioned him to the best of my ability, but you'll have to get specifics. My job is done." He started to walk away, but was stopped.

"You're from Konoha, aren't you?" He stood there, not saying a word, and walked on.

Within his mind, Kurama, the Kyuubi no Yoko, spoke, "I see that you're taking advantage of my powers." Naruto nodded inwardly, "I figure that since you're living here now, you better start paying your rent. You're emotional outbursts are pretty tiring."

He chuckles inwardly, "You're a growing boy. It's better to go crazy when you're young." This was good advice.

With Kuramas' aid, Naruto was able to get sufficient info. He knew that they were to hold a demonstration and he had to try to stop them.

Naruto knew bits and pieces about the group, but thought them insignificant, especially in the face of the hidden villages and other organizations, but his mother thought differently.

He waited for the group members to gather before inconspicuously joining them. As they waited, one of the members started speaking about fellowship, the joining of man to face the greatest trial, and obtaining overwhelming power when part of the whole.

The groups seemingly leader, a young, charismatic, young woman, joined the crowd. Her speech seemed to rouse more hearts and souls than that of the faceless goon. It tugged at the spirit of each person listening and you could feel the restlessness of the crowd.

The young woman in question had one of the red robes, but with the hood off. Her skin was quite fair and she had shoulder-length purple hair with a lotus hair ornament. Her sleeves connected underneath her legs as she swayed.

Naruto tried the best to control himself since he could feel Kurama purring. "Let me at her! I **MUST **have her!" He flicked the ring and the rushing emotions seemed to pause. '_Phew!'_

As he was not paying attention, he almost lost sight of the rest of the following. He ran up to the procession, now following the so-called 'maiden' of the Shomonkai, a self-proclaimed religious group with an almighty lord at the center.

The main group headed into a large building. As the maiden was led in, everyone else was stopped, including Naruto. As earlier scans were indicated, they seemed to know the faces of everyone in the so-called group.

Naruto than remembered the face of the mook Gin captured earlier and used Henge to disguise his face. He managed to sneak into the building with little difficulty and made it to the meeting.

At the top room, the Shomonkai gathered around the man who seemed to be the leader, with another man and the maiden. "The time is nearly upon us! It is nearly time for our lord to come into this world vanquish our foes! Make your reports and come turn in your findings to us, brothers!" The cult members did as they were told.

Each member seems to have or is training as a fighter. Most had some identification of where they originated from, including but not limited to headbands, tattoos, and insignia.

As it approached Narutos' turn, he stammered inwardly, "_O-Oh crap, I can't do this. I don't have any info."_

It was now Narutos' turn.

End

Please Review.


	12. Chapter 12

Spirit x Demon

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other crossovers I may put into this work of fiction.

Reviewer's Corner (From Ch. 11):

Start

It was now Narutos' turn to share his information. He heard others and had an idea of what to say, but his tongue was tied. '_What the hell can I say? Agh!'_

The maiden, Kuzuryu Amane, rose, "Ahem! Members with no information do not have to share, but I'm counting on you next time." Naruto shook his head visibly.

He stood up, "Thank you for your mercy, Kuzuryu-sama." She put her arm to her face, "Please, Amane is fine." He sat down and they continued sharing.

Naruto looked around and felt an uncomfortable pressure around him. He could feel murderous glances from some of the members around him. '_These guys…'_

The three heads, the maiden, the leader, and his right hand, left the room. This allowed the other members to gang up on Naruto.

He knew of the situation he was in, He asked slyly, "Hey guys, what's up?" Kuramas' growled, '**These men smell of daemons… and not the tasty kind either… prepare yourself.**'

He stood up and noticed all of the men with different colored eyes. One man stood up, "You don't smell like us. What are you doing here, foreigner?" The others walked forward.

Naruto turned his head and made note of a possible exit, '_Damn it, only a window. We're pretty high up too.' _ He got into a stance.

A man charged towards him, "Let's kill him, gut him, and eat him!" He went to strike Naruto, but failed. He was knocked out instantly.

"Damn it, what kind of power is that? He's just a kid! Get him!" As more of the henchmen ran towards him, Naruto and Kurama were better able to get a feel for the situation.

'_These guys are different. They don't feel like regular humans." _Kurama nodded, '**you are right, boy. These guys are most likely dead bodies possessed by evil daemons.** **Take no mercy against these men, Naruto.**' He nodded. '_Right.'_

He focuses energy in his palms, '**Wave Fist' **An energy ball shoots out of his palm and hits his enemies in front of him. They crash into the wall, pushing those behind them to the ground.

As more surround him, Naruto can feel their true power. "I don't want to deal with this right now. These guys are becoming too troublesome."

Some of the cultists face transform, gaining distinguishing features. "What the heck is going on?"

'**The daemons inside them seem to have reacted with my chakra. They're hungry enough that they'll want to eat you to get to me. Run or fight, what will you do?**'

He punches a nearby wall, "Forget that! I'm outta here!" He jumps a considerable height and runs a safe distance away from them.

Back at the building, the cultists were climbing out, searching for the intruder.

Naruto sighed, "Damn, I never thought these bastards would use daemon possessed corpses! I need to go back." He started to run back to Uzushiogakure.

Konoha - Morning…

While two groups within Konohagakure were trying to solve a mystifying riddle, another awaits for more information. While Kakashi meets with the Sandaime, Uchiha Keisuke barges in. "I've come with the information you've requested, Hokage-sama!"

He nods, "Good, please join in on this discussion then." A scroll drops in front of him. "Kakashi, I want you to fill him in."

Kakashi nods, "Alright then, now where to begin." He starts to share, including the information on how Kushina was the lord of Uzushiogakure now."

A look of apprehension creeps on his face, "Damn, my theory was right. But I thought it would have been some time before they would have started to act. Why now when we're drawing close to that time?"

Kakashi sighs, "Perhaps she wishes to have her teams participate? Lower some tension between our two villages?"

The Professor nodded, "You may be right about that, Kakashi. Still, we do not know the true story. Perhaps she can tell us in person." He takes a look through the scroll, "What is this?" He raised an eye.

Keisuke opens up the scroll and reveals… a new issue of Makeout Paradise!

The three talk about their favorite book…

Uchiha Household…

The three agreed they would meet up at the Uchiha home for training and discussion for missions.

Sasuke and Haru were already there, now just waiting for Sakura. He was looking into the distance, disturbed by a murmur. "Umm, Sasuke? I wanted to talk."

"Well, you're talking to me right now," He smiles, "But okay. What's up?"

She looks down, her face pensive, and sighs, "Its' been rough for the past few days. Since Gin left, Aya has been feeling down lately. I don't know what I can do for her to cheer her up. Do you have any ideas?"

He looks to be deep in thought, "I don't know how to answer that. It seems to me that Gin coming back will be the best thing." He worries about his friend and her state of mind.

She continues to look sad, but feels better after receiving comfort. "Thanks."

Sakura arrives and can feel the tension in the room, '_Woah, what's with this pressure? It feels odd…' _She sees both her teammates looking a bit sadder.

She tries to cheer them up, "Is there anything wrong, you two? There seems to be something between the two of you." Sasuke and Haru looked at her.

They both spoke at the same time, "Nothing is wrong."

Haru sighed and tried to speak cheerfully, "Well, what should we do today?"

They ended up hanging out.

Village Hidden among Whirlpools…

Naruto managed to get back to the village without much trouble. "Damn, what was that about?"

Kurama breathed a sigh of relief, "**It seems like these Shomonkai cultists are up to something strange. Your mother was right to worry about them.**"

They headed to the Tower and reported their progress. He heads towards the reception desk, "So, what can I do for you today, Naruto-sama?"

He waved his hand, "No need for the honorifics, they make me feel old." He sighs, "I want to talk to Atsuro-sensei." She nodded and pressed a button.

A voice was heard through the door, "Alright, you can come in!" Naruto thanked her.

He opened the door and saw his old teacher, Kiharu Atsuro. He looked up from his work, "Ah, Naruto, you've come back. How was the mission?"

Naruto explained about what had happened and what he saw.

He sniffed the air, "Huh, I see. Well, I should tell Kushina-ojou than." He went back to the work, but looked up again, "Was there anything else?"

Naruto laughed, "Well, I was wondering if you knew of the top members in that cult."

"Well then…" He wrote down some things, "Kuzuryu, the leader of the cult. His daughter seems to be the maiden of the cult. I don't really know much about that other guy, but…"

Naruto nodded, "Well, if that's all then…" He turned around to leave.

Atsuro smiled, '_It seems the prince has found his princess. I wonder what he sees in her.' _He spins around in his chair. "Whee!"

Naruto heard the exclamation and visibly sweat drops, '_Why did I get such an eccentric teacher?' _He suddenly starts to feel tired and heads back to the castle.

On the way, he meets his team, Haku and Ayame. He sees the girl looking sullen, Haku greets him, "Naruto, you were gone last night."

Naruto tiredly responds, "Sorry, I had a secret mission to do. What's going on right now?" It wasn't normal for him to see Ayame sad. She always put up a strong, invisible front.

He approached Ayame, but she looked away. "What happened when I was gone? What could it have been to make you this sad?" He spoke carefully. The girl was known to become irrationally angry when she was sad.

She yelled sadly, "Uncle was murdered!" Her response caused Naruto to freeze rapidly. The man was like a grandfather figure for him. He lived with and knew the man for quite a while.

His brain started hurting as well. For some reason, there seemed to be a blank from the previous nights events, though he remembered the events from the previous week. '_What the hell is going on? Why can't I remember what happened from last night?'_

As he was going to comfort her, Zabuza arrived. "What's up with all of you sad pandas? Are you all still crying because old man Genbu died?" He could sense his answer rang true for the two closest to him. He also knew of the murderer, but was told to let it be for the time.

To the remark, Ayame lashed out at her sensei, "You shut up! You don't know anything, Zabuza-sensei!" She stormed off angrily, as Naruto was about to follow after her. Zabuza ran ahead of Naruto and stopped the lad, "Hold it! You're in no condition to talk to her right now. Go to sleep!"

He groaned, "Damn it! Alright, I'll go to sleep." He ran back to his home. Haku prodded him on the back, "Is it alright that Naruto doesn't know who the murderer in this case is?"

Zabuza looked at his pupil, than his other pupil, "I think its' fair we spare the boy for now. If he found out now, the stress would possibly break his mind. He's still needed for the upcoming event." Haku nodded.

The three would work out their own problems for the rest of the week.

The next week…

In preparation for the grand event that would be happening in Konoha (that not everyone knows about yet), all teams did missions to raise their prestige and trained as well.

The Whirlpool team managed to work out some of the issues for the time being. "We'll have to concentrate for the upcoming Chunin exams in Konoha. We can't let our village down." Naruto was pumped, ready for the test.

Although still saddened by the death of her guardian, Ayame became determined, focusing her sadness into a more usable form. She agreed with the idiot she called brother.

Haku turned to both sides, the hot and cold extremes of his team. '_These two…'_

It would take them a week to make it to Konoha…

At the true time, Team 7 met on a bridge to discuss what they would do. Now, all they needed to do was wait for their sensei.

He arrived a few minutes later, "Yo…" He was quickly disrupted when Sakura pointed at him, "Who are you? What have you done to Kakashi-sensei?"

He backed away, "What's with this hostility I'm sensing? I'm the real Kakashi! Is that so hard to believe?"

Sasuke, naturally the stoic in this kind of situation, decided to intervene, "Sakura is right, you know. Who's to say that you are the real Kakashi, 'Kakashi-sensei'?" He felt like having a bit of fun.

Haru looked at the two, "That's right! Why are you here so early? Kakashi-sensei would be late for his own funeral if that was possible!" They all laughed this time.

Kakashi simply rolled over, "You guys are right, but this time I'm serious." He took out three passes, "Read these and then we'll talk."

The three read the slips and Sasukes' eyes raised widely, "You're serious about this? Do you think we're ready?"

Kakashi nodded, "Yes. I've watched the three of you train together, work well together, and eat together. The three of you definitely have enough team work to get through this unscathed."

The girls cheered and gave each other a high five, but Sasuke was silent. _'This is way too early. Something else must be going on right now, but if Kakashi-sensei agrees…' _ He looked at the sky.

"Well, let's do this." Kakashi smiled approvingly, "So you all agree than? That's good. You should all take the rest of the day off then. Tomorrows' a big day."

They did as they were told. There was a limit to how much people should train before they simply collapse due to the stress.

"Well, what should we do now?" They heard a shout, "Over there!"

As the three scrambled towards where the shout was, they saw five people. Three of them were kids and the other two, who appeared to be older genin. One of the kids was grabbed by a genin in a black costume had a scarf.

Haru pointed, "Hey, that's Konohamaru-kun!" Sasuke nodded since he had seen Haru baby-sit the tyke before. "Now we need to find out who those guys are."

Sakura, deciding to be the heroic type, walked forward. She called attention to herself, "Hey, what are you doing?"

The black suited genin looked her way, "Hmph, a bunch of Leaf brats have come out. I'm just going to kill this kid who bumped into me." He appeared to have tightened his grip as the younger boy had a tougher time struggling.

Eyes filling with concern, "Don't you know he's the Hokages' grandson? If you're too rough with him, there'll be trouble between our two villages!"

He spat out his next words, "I don't give a damn! This kid needs to be taught manners!" As he continued, a shuriken nicked his arm, forcing him to drop the boy. He fell onto the ground, gasping for air.

His friends voiced their concern, "Konohamaru!" As the black suited boy approached the younger boy, Haru ran towards the two. "Haru-nee-san!"

She yelled shrilly, "Don't hurt him, damn it!" He grit his teeth, "Damn it! Why are you…" He turned his head to where the shuriken came from.

"Over here, jackass!" He turned to Sasuke, "What did you say!" His head turning allowed Sasuke to see his headband, raising an eye.

Sasuke smirked, "You sure you want to mess with him, cat boy? If you do, you're in for a world of death."

As Sasukes' opponent prepared a move, a gruff voice stopped him. "Kankuro, what the hell are you doing?"

It was slightly surprising that just a voice stopped the older boy, but he froze up. Sasuke looked towards the direction of the voice. '_I didn't even sense him. What is this?'_

He looked up the tree where the voice was and saw a red haired boy with a large gourd on his back. He pointed to him, "Who are you to stop our fight?"

The boy and the girl from the Village Hidden in the Sand both gasped. He tried to appease to the red-head, "Gaara, we-" He stammered.

"Shut up before I kill you." The ninja named Gaara spoke coldly. A drop of sweat over Kankuros' face, ruining his face paint. He stepped backwards, away from the two. Sasuke went over to Haru and Konohamaru.

He asked with a sound of worry in his voice, "Are you two okay?" The two nodded.

He got up and said to Gaara, "I don't know who you are, but I want you to know that this isn't over. You may have saved them, but you're going down." He smirked, "C'mon, let's go."

There seemed to be a shade of a smirk on Gaaras' face as well. "I want to know the name of the man I'm going to kill." Sasuke turned back, "Uchiha Sasuke, pleasure."

The red head turned around and headed away, only to meet with three masked people. Each of the masks represented a legendary oni from the past; Kin-ki the Gold, Fuu-ki the Blue, Sui-ki the Violet, and Ongyo-ki the Black.

The one in the Fuu-ki mask let the three move aside. A gruff voice greeted them, "After you, Gaara of the Sand." The three walked away from the oni trio.

They walked towards Team 7, "Yo." His tone and voice completely changed to one heard only two weeks earlier. "You don't remember an awesome voice like mine?"

He turned his head away, "Che, what are you doing here?" He ended up smiling though. "You're here for the Chunin Exams, right?"

They all nodded uniformly, "Correct, Uchiha." The one wearing the Sui-ki mask walked to help up Haru and Konohamaru.

She said gently, "Oh, thank you. I can get up myself." She dusted herself off.

The three walked away. Sakura asked, "What was that about?"

Konohamaru than remembered, "Oh, Haru-nee, thanks for saving me from that gorilla." She breathed a sigh of relief.

She asked sweetly, "Oh, it was no problem, Konohamaru. So, tell me, who are your friends?"

His two friends introduced themselves, the red-haired girl Moegi and the boy with the glasses Udon. He pointed to Sasuke, "Hey, is Haru, is he your, you know…" He said with his pinky pointed out.

The two looked at each other, but they looked away, blushing. Sakura simply bit her bottom lip, feeling like the third wheel. She sighs and walks away, feeling defeated.

Sakura poked him on the back, but he ran away. "Where are you going?"

Haru sighs and reprimands Konohamaru, "Ugh, Konohamaru, why did you say that? Sasuke is very sensitive deep down."

He kicked at the ground, looking at her abashed, "Ah, I'm sorry." Haru said, "I guess that's alright. We should go find him."

The five walked to Ichiraku, the local noodle shop, where they found Sasuke eating a bowl. "Sasuke, you usually never go to eat noodles. Why eat them now?"

He pointed towards a man in a cloak, which turned out to be Itachi. He was chatting it up with the shop proprietors daughter, Ayame. "Oh, hello."

Haru put her hand on Sasukes' shoulder, "We need to talk. Konohamaru wants' to apologize."

He laughs, "No, that's okay, I get it. I'm just concerned about something else." He finished his noodles and paid his tab. He looked at his ring before walking away.

Sakura, concerned about her now 'friend', asked his brother, "Do you know if anything is wrong with Sasuke right now?"

He finished his noodles as well, "I don't know. We talked for a bit, but I'm not sure. He's been acting differently since he came back from that mission. Do you know if something happened during that time?"

The two girls suddenly remember, "The ring! That weird Uzumaki gave him that ring with the tomoe pattern. He's here in Konoha right now."

"We should go look for him then." They waved good-bye to the kids before searching for their friend.

End

Ugh, It's awkward for me to write romantic scenes or dramatic scenes either, as a matter of fact. I've also never written this much either, so…


	13. Chapter 13

A Dream and Preliminaries

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other crossovers I may put into this work of fiction.

Reviewer's Corner (From Ch. 12):

Start

The Previous Night…

Sasuke looked at the ring with the three-tomoe pattern. He had taken it to Itachi and his uncle, but they didn't see anything mysterious with the accessory. "This ring… the pattern reminds you of our sharingan, doesn't it, brother?" Itachi allowed Sasuke to look more carefully into his eye, and saw the mitsudomoe.

Sasuke grit his teeth, "I haven't gotten it yet." He wasn't interested in power, but he did want to activate his sharingan. He knew it would eventually come in handy. Itachi attempted to calm down his younger brother, "Hey, don't worry. I'm sure you'll activate the sharingan eventually. But don't get too hung up if you never activate it. Remember, it is simply a tool. A powerful tool, but a tool nonetheless." He left his brother, wondering about his words.

He looked at the ring and saw his own eyes. The surface of the ring was clear and it was like he could see the sharingan in his eyes. '_That guy…'_

He went to sleep, thinking about the mission and the previous week. '_There's no use worrying.'_

Dream World…

Sasuke wakes up in his mind (weird, I know). He looks around and sees a statue. He raises and eye and walks towards the statue. It is shaped like the monster he previously set on fire.

A wind blows around him. He looks around, but senses no one. "What's going on?"

Leaves started to blow in the wind. A sash appeared out of nowhere. "What the?" The leaves collected together and joined with the sash.

The leaves formed into the shape of a man. What appeared to be its eyes flickered. When it stood fully erect, it pointed towards Sasuke. He stood there, not budging an inch.

It seemed to speak, but Sasuke had not understood a word. "Sorry, I don't speak whatever it is you speak." He/She/It touched Sasukes head. "Can you hear me now?"

He was taken back by the clear and distorted voice from the figure. He just nodded, "Good, then let's begin." The being examined his eye. "You're eye… is very interesting."

Sasuke backed away, but couldn't help but be interested by his words. "You going to do anything to me?" This was weird. He didn't know what was going on, and he didn't like it. '_What's going on here? This is so strange.'_

After inspecting Sasuke from every corner, the being spoke. "Tell me, Uchiha Sasuke, do you seek power?" Sasuke paused.

'_What the hell is he talking about? Power? What can…' _

"I sense doubt, youngling. Very well, if I must." He touched Sasukes forehead and said eerily, "Activate." A surge of power erupted from his hand-like appendage. The power caused Sasuke to convulse in pain. He struggled on the ground for the better part of five minutes.

After he stopped shaking, he pounded the ground. He said calmly, "What the hell," he then shouted, "was that for!" A mirror appeared in front of him. "Your eyes…"

He saw that both his eyes had Sharingan, with one tomoe each. He was shocked beyond words.

The spirit seemed to laugh. "You're surprised, no? Your reaction is to be expected of a human." He vanished the mirror, "My power merely caused a reaction in your eyes and activated your own powers. No need to thank me."

The being turned around, "Come back here later." Sasuke was then ejected from his mind. "Woah!"

The Real World…

Sasuke woke up from his 'dream'. His body was sore, but he felt normal. He looked at his ring and saw that one of the tomoe was white. "It's that… thing."

A voice came from nowhere, '_Bingo.' _He looked around, but figured that it spoke through in his mind. "You're speaking to me through telepathy, am I right?"

It laughed, '_But of course… Yes, I forgot to mention, due to my power surging through your heart, you'll be, er, mentally unbalanced for the day. Also, try thinking what you want to say. I wouldn't want people to think of my tamer as a lunatic.'_

The voice stopped, just as he wanted more answers. "Great, now what?"

Real Time…

While Sasuke wanders throughout the village, his friends are in search of the three masked demons. "Where are those three?" The search for the Whirlpool team would be a wasted effort, not that it would discourage Sakura, Haru, and the Konohamaru Corps.

Time Skip no Jutsu (Next week) …

The week before the Chunin Exam went by quickly. Sasuke explained his odd behavior to his team, leaving some of the finer details out of his explanation. The three tried to get Kakashi to give some advanced training before the day.

He accepted, but all it amounted to was helping Haru master more ninja tools. She had been given a small storage scroll for more tools. This was all he could do to prepare the group.

Sasuke was practicing with his Sharingan and Sakura was training her basic skills.

The three arrived at the academy together. The three Genin had to walk to the next flight of stairs along corridor past the classrooms were a very small fight was breaking out. A girl with her hair wrapped in two buns spoke, "Let us in you jerk! We're here for the first part of the Exams!"

He saw a boy with a bowl-shaped haircut and a green jumpsuit, sitting on the ground. He appeared to be knocked down, as his teammate was carefully holding him. '_Hmm, this could be interesting.' _He decided against it at the last moment.

Haru asked, "Why don't you want to see this?" Sasuke moved away, "It's too obvious. Those guys are obviously up to something. Let's go up." They moved up to the real floor and saw Kakashi.

He gave them the obligatory congratulations speech and allowed them to enter. As expected there was A LOT of competition this year from all over the place. From both major and minor villages Genin ninja were all over the room. As Sasuke viewed the competition, "Looks like this'll be an interesting year."

The three heard a voice, "Sasuke-kun, you're late." Yamanaka Ino assaulted him. Sakura and Haru were pissed, but Sakura's anger was more visible. "I've been waiting for you since I heard I could see you for the first time in a while."

When Sakura's anger hit the boiling point, she yelled to her 'adversary', "Get away from Sasuke-kun, Ino!" She looked at Sakura and said slyly, "You're forehead is still wide and ugly… as usual."

Her taunt seemed to make matters worse, as Sakura tried to attack the girl. The only thing holding her back was Haru, "Hey, stop holding me back! I wanna give her a piece of my mind!" She was still angry, but she seemed to cool down.

Another voice sounded out, "So, you guys are here to take this troublesome exam as well?" Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji approached them.

Sasuke calmly said, "It's Team 10. How have you guys been doing?"

"Yo! We found you guys!" Another group approached the six. "So I see that everyone is here." The three were Inuzuka Kiba, Hyuuga Hinata, and Aburame Shino.

Kiba chuckled , "How far do you think we'll get, Sasuke?" He was stone faced and responded, "Why don't you ask your teammates?"

As tensions were about to rise, a silver haired boy with glasses interrupted them. "Hey would you guy's knock it off. You're drawing too much hostility in this area and I would rather not be a target just yet."

Kiba asked antagonistically, "Who the hell are you, four eyes?" Sasuke had to agree, he had never seen this person before. He was a little curious about his story.

"I'm Kabuto. If you know what's good for you, you'll keep your mouth shut for the remainder of the exam so you don't piss off anyone else. You learn that when you've take the exam as long as I have." Kabuto crouched to the ground.

Shikamaru asked rather lazily, "How many times did you take the exam? Once? Twice?" Sasuke was rather curious about this as well.

Kabuto fiddled with his glasses, ""This would be my seventh time actually, but this time around I have a little ace up my sleeve." He pulled a deck of cards out of his pocket.

Sakura asked, "What are those?" Everyone was curious about this.

Kabuto smiled, "These are my… ninja info cards. Only I can use them, and they only recognize my chakra. My, ninja info cards."

Haru said stone-faced, "This sounds like something out of a bad advertisement." This caused a few laughs, but everything returned to seriousness.

"Er, well, you can ask for anyone and you'll get information on those people." There was a sound as Kabuto turned around. The rookie nine turned to where the sound was from.

It was the Whirlpool teams, the three demon masks. The ninja with the Fuu-ki mask said, "Ninja info cards, interesting. Gaara of the Sand and Uchiha Sasuke."

Kabuto seemed disappointed, "You know their names? That's not really fun, but it'll be easier." He took out a card from the deck and spun it around on the ground with his chakra.

While Kabuto did his thing, Haku asked Naruto, "Why do you want to know their info? I thought you knew what you needed?" Naruto simply smirked, if anyone else knew, it was a surprise.

"There's something off about this guy. He doesn't seem like he's from Konoha." His mother had told him that this exam would be different. It wasn't like the exams in the past. There would be an unwanted element in the works.

After explaining the about the two, Kabuto continued to speak. "Did you all hear about a new hidden village participating this year?" Some of the were surprised.

Some people tried to identify the new comers, and Sasuke thought it was the ones from Whirlpool. "Who is it?"

"It's the Hidden Sound Village. They are new right now, so they are pretty weak, but it gives them all the more reason to participate this year so they can grow," Kabuto pointed to the trio of Genin wearing gray and dark camouflage clothing with one covered mostly in bandages like he had been in a tomb for most of his life.

Sasuke warned the silver boy, "Hmm, they seem pissed. You better be careful, Kabuto." He was still wary of Kabuto, but put it in the back of his mind.

The sound genin attacked as expected. Kabuto ended up dodging the attack, but he still suffered from injuries. He fell down, but Haku inspected him. "He's injured, but he should be able to take the test."

A tall, scarred man, wearing a black trench coat, appeared from the doorway, "ALL RIGHT YOU BASTARDS! ALL OF NEED TO LISTEN UP! NO ONE, WILL BE FIGHTING IN HERE UNLESS I SAY SO! GOT THAT?" He was accompanied by various Leaf ninja.

They were all assigned seats. As the Whirlpool team headed to their different seats, Naruto commented, "It looks like we got a bad-ass over here." Everyone chuckled from that comment, but they were quickly silenced.

The man yelled out loud, "ALL RIGHT YOU BASTARDS, LISTEN UP! MY NAME IS MORINO IBIKI AND I'LL BE YOUR EXAMINER FOR THE FIRST OF THREE PARTS IN THE CHUUNIN EXAM!"

Naruto thought to himself, '_I like this guys style. It might be an interesting idea to pick his brain.' _Kurama couldn't help but chuckle. '**I agree, boy. He sure is an interesting one.**"

Ibiki barked out more orders, "THE FIRST PART OF THE EXAM IS A WRITTEN ONE. YOU HAVE ONE HOUR TO COMPLETE IT. CHEATING WILL NOT BE TOLERATED AND THE FINAL QURSTION WILL NOT BE REVEALED UNTIL THE LAST 15 MINUTES OF THE EXAM. THE PROCTERS HERE WILL MAKE SURE NONE OF YOU CHEAT. IF YOU ARE CAUGHT CHEATING OVER TEN TIMES, YOU AND YOUR TEAM WILL FAIL!" Most of the genin were, if not already, fainted, from his ruthlessness.

He called for the test to begin. As Naruto scanned through the questions, '_These questions… they're way too hard for regular genin. Brains like Haku and probably that Haruno will be able to figure it out. This is too obvious.' _He had to use all the tricks he knew in the book to get through the test.

He decided to sleep on it. '_I can't openly cheat without getting caught. My methods are too obvious.' _He knew the true goal of the test was more based on teamwork than the information. '_**You're taking a big risk by doing this. Are you sure this is the right way?**_'

Naruto mentally nodded to himself.

Elsewhere…

Everyone not concentrating on their tests, that is to say, everyone, was shocked that one of the examinees was just snoozing away. They saw that his other teammates were still taking their test. They went back to their respective tests.

The proctors were also amazed at this boys blatant disrespect towards the test. '_Could he have figured out the true point of the test already?' _It wasn't such a far-fetched idea.

After torturing the kids enough, he yelled, "ALL RIGHT! NOW, IT IS TIME FOR THE TENTH AND FINAL QUESTION. THOSE WHO WISH TO TAKE THE LAST QUESTION MAY STAY, BUT GET IT WRONG AND YOU WILL NEVER HAVE A CHANCE TO TAKE THE CHUUNIN EXAMS HERE EVER AGAIN. THOSE WHO DON'T CAN LEAVE, BUT IN DOING SO WILL GO ON YOUR RECORD AS A COWARD AND FAILURE FOR ALL TO SEE!" yelled Ibiki, as he looked at the shocked face on almost all the Genin in the room.

One by one, the different genin started to leave the room. As Ibiki saw that the numbers were only slowly lowering, he tried some more persuasion. "Are you sure? Do you really want to go through with this? What will you do should you fail with your team? None of you could become Chuunin, or advance in rank, making you a Genin the rest of your life."

At that time, Naruto woke up. "Whazzat?" He read the atmosphere and saw that most of the people had left, "Oh. Well, quit stalling, and give us the last question! I'm tired of sleeping here!" This pissed the examiner to a degree nearly unattainable my normal means.

Seeing that his intimidation tactics wouldn't work, he just passed them all. There were shouts of confusion from all over the place. Ibiki just laughed and explained that the test was more about the choices they had to make, rather than having a final question.

As he finished explaining, a giant ball of what looked like a brown trench coat appeared and the female equivalent of Ibiki in the form of Mitarashi Anko. "Okay you maggots its time for the second part of the exam!" She introduced herself in an over-the-top manner.

Ibiki sighed, "Anko, you are a minute early. Next time be aware your surroundings, what you are doing, and before you do it." He felt a little worried about the examinees as his interrogation partner was on the… wild side.

Naruto clapped and laughed behind his mask, "That's a good show right there! God, I haven't laughed that much since that noodle incident!" Haku and Ayame chuckled silently under their masks.

Anko made a note of Narutos intrusive comment, but would think about it later. She scanned the room and saw the remaining numbers, "You came in with 48 Genin and have 30 remaining? Damn Ibiki you must be getting old because you used to dwindle the number down to single digits the last time you did this." She laughed at her partners' expense.

He smiled in his own way, "I just happened to have a good batch this year is all." He especially looked towards the troublesome masked blond.

"Yeah, well, all the easier to remove when we get to the next part of the exam. All right you maggots, get up and follow me." As Anko was able to walk out the door, she whispered something to Ibiki, who followed suit and waited until only the Whirlpool team was left.

He approached the three, "Problem?" Ibiki simply chuckled.

"I'm going to need you to stay here while he fetches the Hokage." The man he pointed to did as he was told.

Naruto calmly said, "Alright then, but, just so you know, I know my rights here. You're allowed to keep me here, but you can't question me. This is a time of peace for everyone. Any dangerous act to those with diplomatic immunity constitutes as a declaration of war."

'_This kid knows his laws. Damn, I wanted to try that new technique on him.' _There was a knock on the door as the Professor himself walked in.

Ibiki bowed, "Hokage-sama, as you've asked."

"Thank you, Ibiki. Now, please leave the room. I have much to discuss with these three." He nodded and they all left.

Sarutobi turned to face them, "I hope you've enjoyed your stay here, Naruto-kun."

Naruto took his mask off, "It's been fairly interesting so far. This village was a lot like I've imagined from how mom described it." Sarutobi simply laughed.

He examined the boy, top to bottom, "You're more like your mother than you could know, but, you have your fathers' eyes. Your father…" Naruto stopped the old mans reminiscing with a gloved hand.

"Please stop, Sarutobi-san. Don't bring my father into this. You… are not able to talk about him until you know all the details."

As of five years ago, no one in Konoha had known of the details surrounding the death of their fourth Hokage. It was the general idea that Uzumaki Kushina, his wife, had killed him. However, this was far from the truth.

The whole time… the one killed was simply a doppelganger. Though it wasn't just a regular doppelganger. The victim was a doppelganger created to look and act just enough like the Fourth until it died.

Five years ago, after all the hatred cooled down a bit, Kushina had contacted Sarutobi and explained why she did what she did. "Please, you've got to believe me. You know that I loved him with all my being. There's no other reason why I would do this."

"Then why hide this from us? Why not tell the truth?"

Kushina remained solid, despite the hurt from his questions, "You don't know all the details. There's something going on here. It's bigger than all of us. I can't explain right now, but I'll do so later, after everything is figured out on our side. Until then, you've got to prepare your people." The transmission ended there.

Sarutobi braced himself for the information overload to come. "So, where should we begin?"

Naruto felt uneasy about the whole situation, "Well, I guess we should begin when father disappeared."

End

I hope this sub-plot ends up good. If it doesn't, I hope it at least builds up some suspense.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking. 'This is going to end up bad.' You're probably right, I'm not exactly the best writer, but I'm just doing my job. There are tons of better authors out there on

I can't think of any other points, but they might be brought up in later chappies. Until then!


	14. Chapter 14

The Forest of Death

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any other crossovers I may put into this work of fiction.

Reviewer's Corner (From Ch. 13):

Start

All the Genin in their teams from different ninja villages were waiting for the Head Proctor for the second part of the Chuunin Exam, Mitarashi Anko. She had already told them about the Forest of Death and that the next part of the exam would a survival based, with two scrolls. Each team would randomly get a scroll and then proceed to enter the forest with the objective of getting a scroll opposite their own.

The team(s) that had both scrolls had to make it to the tower at the center of the forest within 5 days. When time was up, the ANBU would search for the remaining genin in the forest, giving them medical attention if necessary.

Everyone else was wondering about one Uzumaki Naruto too, the one who had larger balls than the One-tailed Demon, and was unafraid of the very scary and scarred Morino Ibiki. There were whispers regarding the fates of the Whirlpool nins.

Over the past few years, information had slowly trickled about the fate of Konoha. Nearly everyone knew the basics of what had happened to the village crowned as 'strongest under the heavens'. However, none of them knew all the details regarding why, unlike the upper echelons of those truly involved with the affair.

Suddenly, the three nin appeared in a flash of light, spooking the female proctor. "What the hell was that!" She jumped away, armed with a kunai.

The woman saw the blond pointing to her shoulder, a lightning bolt tattoo, slowly fading. "I secretly tagged you with this one-shot seal. Looks like the test was a success."

A teammate scribbled in a notebook the results. "Should I note everything?" He shook his head, "Nah, that'll slow them down."

She coughed, re-focusing the attention back to her. "Anyways…" Although she was surprised, she wouldn't let it affect her mind too much, like a good ninja.

Anko gave three waives to the three, "Well, now that you guys are here, sign these waivers and we can begin." They started reading, "What are you doing?"

He continued to read, "Only an idiot would sign a waiver without reading." He finished and signed it, "Fair enough." The others finished a second later.

She pocketed the papers, "Smug bastard."

Anko held a flare gun in her hand, ready to fire. "Okay everyone, you have 5 days to get to the tower with the scrolls. On your mark...get set...GO!", as she fired the flare gun into the air, the teams raced off.

Team 7 - Within the forest…

The three ran like every other team, until they headed to a clearing. On the way, they discussed their strategy. "We'll need a plan in case we get separated from each other."

Sasuke did the unthinkable. He made his move for Haru, by planting a big one on her. "Sasuke! What do you think you're doing!" She pushed him away, angrily.

He smirked, "That will be our signal than." She looked a bit clueless to what the boy meant, but she shook the thought out of her head. He headed off ahead.

'_He kissed me! I-I can't believe it!' _As she continued to think angrily, Sakura was in a daze. "What was that?"

Haru shook her friend, "Did you just see what happened, with your own eyes?"

"No… and will you knock it off!" Haru stopped, and explained. The pinkette gasped, "Well, what did you do?"

As the two discussed things, a blast of wind blew them away.

Farther away…

Sasuke was perhaps blown away the farthest. The being in his ring warned him of the attack far too late. He got up and stretched. "Aw, damn it!"

'_You best hurry back to those female teammates of yours. Wouldn't want something to happen to them, would you?_' The spirit made a throaty laugh.

'_SHUT UP!' _He quickly raced off.

Meanwhile…

Sakura quickly found Haru, but the girl turned a kunai her way. "How do I know you're the real Sakura!"

Sakura whispered a secret that only girls would share between them selves, "Even if yous say that, why should I trust you? You could have easily done research about that kind of thing!"

She told another secret, and they instantly trusted each other. "Now we have to find Sasuke." Haru lowered her kunai.

"Did you have to say that? I told you that in confidence." She puffed her cheeks.

Sakura bit her lips, "Uh… Well…" She pointed somewhere, "Look, it's Sasuke!"

Their teammate seemed to be a bit shaken, holding his right leg awkwardly, but otherwise seemed to be fine. "You're okay…"

As Haru looked happy to see him, Sakura pulled out a kunai. "You're not Sasuke!"

He looked stupefied, "What! Of course I am!" He calmly tried to deny her accusation.

Sakura continued to push, "Than take your cloak off!"

The boy did as told, but he received a scratch, courtesy of Sakura. "Ow! What was that for!"

Haru noticed this, "Of course! Sasuke never takes off the cloak he received from his brother!"

'Sasuke' laughed oddly, "I never expected the two girls from young Sasuke's team to find me out. But, I suppose a bit of his prodigal genius rubbed off on you." 'He' revealed 'himself' to be a female Grass ninja.

The two got into battle formation, "I guess you're the one who threw that wind attack!"

The nin laughed oddly, "Indeed. I intended to attack Sasuke Uchiha alone, but he seemed to have disappeared. It's a shame really… I suppose I'll have to settle for the two of you."

She shot a wave of killer intent at the two girls. They tried to steel through the ordeal, but the k.i. caused them to see visions of their demise. '_This killer intent…_ _It's unfathomable…_'

They quickly dropped to their knees, giving their foe the chance to lunge at the two.

He cried out venomously, right before Sasuke appeared. "Mind if I cut in?" He swung in out of nowhere and kicked her face into a tree.

The feeling of dread wore off, but they were still shaken. Sasuke dashed to the two and handed some chocolate. "Here, the sugar should help. Quickly!"

They ate the snacks. "How did you find us?" They hoped the answer wasn't what they thought.

He just stood there, looking at the tree, "I was already here. I wanted to know what he was looking for." The Grass nin got up. "Looks like we'll find out."

She spit out a tooth, "It looks like you have come to me." He yelled and charged the boy.

The spirit in the ring cried out, '_Careful now, youngling. This one carries a stronger power than you are able to face at this time._'

Sasuke nodded, '_What do you take me for? A fool?_' The spirit remained silent.

It was clear, even before the fight began, that their foe was beyond them. He needed something, anything he could get his hands on. Now, it was just a battle of attrition.

The two were evenly matched, as far as the girls were concerned. It seemed as if the Grass nin hadn't caught on that Sasuke knew her secret.

Haru realized, "Wait… Why did Sasuke call her a guy? She's clearly female."

Sakura shrugged, "I don't know what to tell you, but… something weird popped in my head when I looked at Sasuke. It was a fluke that the Grass nin revealed himself." She laughed silently to herself and hoped they could safely escape.

Meanwhile…

Other teams were slowly getting the other scrolls required of them. Teams were falling left and right, due to a combination of skill, cunning, and dumb luck. Of course, some were just blood thirsty.

The Sand Siblings walked through the dangerous forest, as if it were a walk in the park. Regardless of what everyone had said about the forest and its dangerous inhabitants, the two thought their younger brother was still even more dangerous.

They quickly met a team from the Hidden Rain Village. Gaara quickly took their 'leader' out, and killed the other two, due to his aforementioned bloodthirstiness.

Back to Sasuke…

As the fight slowly dragged on, Sasuke became exhausted. The two saw that he was getting sluggish, while his foe seemed to be as fresh as a daisy. "Some thing is wrong. They should both be at the same level."

Their horrors surfaced, as they realized the level of their opponent. Sasuke was much weaker than his foe.

"What can we do now?"

Haru looked around, "Sasuke already realized this, and he's been slowly setting up traps around the forest. I don't know if the nin figured it out." Sakura squinted, but couldn't see the wire. It was barely visible to the red-head.

Just as he had planned, Sasuke led the nin to an area surrounded by the ninja wire, and set it ablaze with a fire jutsu. The wire lit on fire, as expected, and it ran down towards her, burning instantly.

They weren't out of the woods yet, though. The nin seemed to instantly recover. "What!"

He laughed oddly, yet again, "Quite the resourceful one, aren't you, Sasuke! Come over here!" His neck stretched out in an inhuman manner.

The girls on the sidelines gasped, "What!"

His head reached the boys' neck, and he sunk his teeth in, like a vampire. Sasuke made an inhuman cry.

Meanwhile, the nin was ecstatic during the whole act. '_Such ferocity! What kind of seal will he receive?_' As he wondered, he received a shock to his mind. He recoiled enough to release the boy. '_What the?' _

In that small window, the two unleashed all their throw-able weapons at him. They managed to nick him a few times, but nothing. "Merely a flesh wound."

As they reached him, Haru cried, "What did you do to him!"

As he was about to respond, he found he couldn't speak. '_What is this I don't even!_' Instead of wasting time, he merely ran away.

The two were left, confused by the ordeal. "What are we doing here? We have to get him to safety!" They quickly scurried off.

End

I'm sorry to say, but I'm afraid I'll have to end it here, because guess what? I'm putting this story on permanent hiatus.

The muse just somehow got away from me. I could just rewrite earlier bits, but, it just won't fit into the grand scheme of things.

I'm planning on doing a rewrite, keeping the main story intact, but have the characters be older, because I'm not good with thinking about younger kids. Plus, I dislike the Wave arc. I'm going to have to do that again anyways in Will of the Elemental Star.

Stay tuned I guess.


End file.
